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Greenland
- a Challenge for Experts
The probabilities of
commercialising oil offshore
Greenland are increasing
Deposits of seeping rock oil have for a time
been known to the original inhabitants
– the Inuits - living in Greenland. During
the latest investigations in the search for
new Danish oil and gas fi elds, the spotlight
has now been turned on the sea off Eastern
Greenland. The latest indications from
GEUS (the Geological Survey of Denmark
and Greenland) indicate increased probabilities
of fi nding oil in the area north of
75° N, north of the Diskos Island.
– The reserves are half of what we previously
had assumed, but the probability of
actually fi nding oil has increased signifi -
cantly following our latest research, State
Geologist Flemming Getreuer Christiansen,
GEUS, explains.
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Offshore Center Danmark
Yearbook 2008
– Investigations from September 2007 indicate
31 billion barrels (4.9 billion m 3) of oil
and gas equivalents in the underground, and
this is around one third of the total reserves
of the entire North Sea.
- At the same time, the probability of actually
fi nding oil in commercial quantities has
increased substantially, and if our current
estimates are correct, Eastern Greenland will
be number 19 in the world, in terms of the
size of oil deposits – out of the 500 registered
locations, Flemming Getreuer Christiansen
concludes.
Unrealistic oil adventure in the
Arctic Ocean
Whilst the probability of fi nding oil in offshore
Eastern Greenland has risen dramatically,
the chances of fi nding oil in the Arctic
Ocean in the area around the North Pole are
much less doubtful, a sceptical Flemming
Getreuer Christiansen, GEUS, states.
- Due to the very compact and thick ice cover,
we have only a very limited amount of data
on the underground. It will be unrealistic to
carry out any form of oil exploration in these
areas for many years to come, he states.
- Asked for a realistic time frame, Flemming
Getreuer Christiansen mentions that 50 years
are not unrealistic. This is in contrast with 5-
10 years in the area north of the Diskos Island.
When it comes to Western Greenland, the
prospects are longer, and with high costs due
to the extreme weather and many icebergs
opening an operation window of only 140-160
days per year. Any oil found here will have
to be available in very large quantities to be
commercially exploitable. ■