COPENHAGEN (Dispatches) - An American oil company connected to Donald Trump is preparing to sink wells in remote Greenland despite not having received permission from the local authorities.
The warning followed the arrival of a tugboat and barge carrying about a dozen containers of drilling equipment at Jameson Land region in late July, where the company plans to conduct exploratory drilling.
“All future logistical matters must be advised and approved by the mineral resources authority before they are carried out,” the Greenland government said, stressing that no authorization had been granted for the delivery.
Greenland Energy plans to spend $60 million drilling exploratory wells after claiming that as much as $1 trillion worth of crude oil could lie beneath Jameson Land.
Greenland stopped issuing new oil licenses in 2021 on environmental grounds, but the British company 80 Mile already holds exploration rights in Jameson Land and has agreed to give Greenland Energy a majority stake in exchange for financing the project.
While Greenland Energy CEO Larry Swets has claimed that the oil project “is not related to American annexation,” the company has developed ties with figures associated with Trump, including former television host Phillip Calvin McGraw, who was hired to produce a documentary portraying the project as the work of “modern-day wildcatters.”
Furthermore, one of Greenland Energy’s directors is a U.S. Navy veteran involved in Trump’s Golden Dome missile-defense program.
The company previously caused widespread condemnation after a representative told a Jameson Land community meeting in June that it had permission to land drilling equipment, a claim Swets later acknowledged had created “confusion.”
Greenland Energy later told shareholders that negotiations with Greenlandic authorities had been “constructive” and that it remained encouraged about obtaining the approvals required for drilling.
The Greenland government, however, said the application remained under review and that the company had not received any approval.
The dispute comes as Trump has repeatedly threatened to take control of Greenland, including a recent social-media post showing himself looming over a Greenlandic village.
Greenland Energy plans to begin drilling in October, while a vessel carrying about 300 containers of additional equipment is expected to leave Canada on September 12.
Trump’s Greenland envoy, Jeffrey Martin Landry, has claimed that Greenland could be producing oil as soon as next year.