Trump-Linked Oil Venture Delays Greenland Drilling Over Government Warning

A Trump-linked oil venture has delayed plans to begin exploration drilling in Greenland until winter 2027 after local authorities warned its partner for bringing equipment ashore without the required approval.

Nasdaq-listed Greenland Energy Company and London-listed 80 Mile had been preparing to explore the Jameson Land Basin on Greenland's east coast. The companies are now working toward a revised permitting timeline after authorities said the necessary regulatory process could not be completed before the planned drilling campaign.

The delay follows a formal warning issued to White Flame Energy, a wholly owned subsidiary of 80 Mile that holds the project's exploration licenses. Greenland's government said equipment intended for the drilling program had been brought ashore near Nerlerit Inaat Airport without the required approval from the mineral resources authority, CNBC reported.

Greenland Energy and 80 Mile said they had arranged storage space with Greenland Airports but had not realized that moving the equipment required separate authorization. Both companies said they took the warning seriously and would work with local authorities on future activities.

The permitting setback means drilling is now unlikely to begin before winter 2027. Greenlandic officials raised concerns that the previous schedule did not leave enough time to assess the project's environmental and social effects, The Guardian reported.

Greenland Energy CEO Robert Price said the company remained committed to the project and would use the additional time to refine its plans and strengthen relationships with local communities, partners and authorities.

The venture is seeking to determine whether the roughly 2-million-acre Jameson Land Basin contains commercially viable oil deposits. Greenland Energy is funding costs associated with two exploration wells, while 80 Mile holds three licenses covering exploration and potential exploitation in the basin.

Those licenses predate Greenland's decision to end new oil exploration. The Government of Greenland said in 2021 that it would stop future oil exploration, citing environmental concerns, potential effects on fisheries and the contribution of fossil fuels to climate change.

Greenland formally stopped issuing new hydrocarbon licenses following a June 2021 government decision, the territory's Mineral Resources Authority confirmed. Existing rights, however, have allowed the Jameson Land project to continue pursuing the approvals required for exploration.

The government's warning came after equipment was unloaded in July as the companies prepared for drilling. The Guardian reported earlier this month that Greenlandic authorities told White Flame Energy that future logistical activities would need approval from the mineral resources authority before being carried out.

The project also faces significant geological and logistical uncertainty. Previous oil exploration in Greenland has failed to produce a commercial discovery, with 21 wells drilled in earlier campaigns proving unsuccessful, according to Wood Mackenzie analyst Lewis Lawrence, who told CNBC that the remote location would make the Jameson Land project particularly challenging.

The drilling push has attracted additional attention because of Greenland Energy's connections to people associated with the Trump administration. Company board member Carol Craig founded a defense technology company involved in a Pentagon contracting program supporting Trump's Golden Dome missile defense initiative, while Greenland Energy has a documentary agreement with Envoy Media, founded by television personality Phil McGraw.

McGraw, widely known as "Dr. Phil," spoke at a Trump campaign rally in 2024 and serves on the president's Religious Liberty Commission. The Guardian has also reported that financier Kenneth Griffin, who contributed $1 million to Trump's second inauguration, acquired a roughly 9% stake in Greenland Energy earlier this year.

The connections come as Trump has revived his push for the United States to acquire Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of Denmark. In July, Trump again called for U.S. control of the island while attending a NATO summit.

Greenland Energy has said its oil project is separate from efforts to bring the territory under U.S. control.

For the companies, the next step is securing the approvals required to put drilling equipment into operation. The existing licenses keep the Jameson Land project alive despite Greenland's broader retreat from oil exploration, but the government's intervention makes clear that any drilling will have to proceed on a timetable set by Greenlandic regulators.