On 10 June, Robert Price, a 60-something American with snowy hair, addressed residents of Ittoqqortoormiit, a remote Greenland hamlet of 300 people. He told them about a business venture backed by figures linked to Donald Trump. "So," Price said via an interpreter, "we have a project to drill for oil here."
Price represents Greenland Energy, a Texas oil company that hopes to prove billions of barrels of crude lie underground by bringing in 300 shipping containers of drilling kit. "We have the permit to put the equipment on the land," Price said at the meeting, according to footage. "And then we've filed our permits – pending approval – to drill."
However, Greenland's resources ministry flatly denied this claim, stating there were "no actually active permissions for any exploration activity or permissions for preparations for these activities." This dispute threatens a showdown between the Trump-linked backers of Greenland Energy and the authorities in the vast, sparsely populated territory.
Trump's Envoy Pushes for US Control
The US president's special envoy to Greenland, hard-right Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, returned from a visit in May and declared on Fox News: "We need a deal. Greenland needs a deal. We could be – Greenland could be – exporting 2 million barrels of oil a day right now." Landry, who says his task is to "make Greenland a part of the US," added: "We could have those barrels on production within 10 months or so."
Greenland Energy appears to be the only company making plans to drill in the territory. Despite seemingly not yet having permission, it has chartered an Arctic-going vessel to ferry its equipment 4,000 km through icy waters to Greenland's eastern coast. Price said the vessel would depart on 12 September, with drilling to begin in October. Halliburton, the giant Houston-based contractor once led by former Republican vice-president Dick Cheney, will run the logistics.
Local and Government Concerns
Among those alarmed is Avaaraq Olsen, mayor of the region covering the capital Nuuk and extending east across Jameson Land, where drilling is planned. She said she was "so afraid" that Americans striking oil could align with Trump's plans. "We are like the most peaceful place on Earth," she said. "And we have always lived in peace and harmony. And suddenly there is all these Americans trying to take over."
Greenland stopped issuing licences to explore for oil in 2021 after 50 years of fruitless drilling, citing environmental consequences. But a handful of licences remained valid, including some covering a chunk of Jameson Land. These licences belong to a UK-registered company called 80 Mile. Greenland Energy, formed last year and listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange in New York, hopes to exploit them by putting up $60 million to drill two wells in exchange for a majority stake.
Price claimed that crude worth $1 trillion (£750 billion) could lie beneath Jameson Land. "I believe it's there," he said at the Ittoqqortoormiit meeting. "The scientists believe that it's there. But until we drill these wells, we don't know."
Environmental and Legal Hurdles
The wells are expected to be drilled in an area protected by the global Ramsar Convention to preserve wetlands. David Boertmann, an expert on Greenland's birds, said the conservation zone hosts important populations of barnacle geese, pink-footed geese, whimbrel, golden plover, Sabine's gull, snowy owl, and muskoxen. Oil exploration activities could threaten the birds' habitat, Boertmann said.
Greenland Energy's stock market filings make clear that its plans can go ahead only if Greenland's government grants permission for drilling and for it to take a stake in any oil extraction that follows. Days after Price's comments, Greenland's minister for mineral resources, Múte B Egede, said he could "understand if citizens are concerned" about the project's connections to Trump. He added: "Activities cannot be carried out until the necessary permits have been granted. I must say again that the company's statements to the public do not always reflect the actual situation."
Larry Swets, a financier who is one of Greenland Energy's biggest shareholders and serves as executive chair, acknowledged: "Our enthusiasm for the project led us to communicate in a way that created confusion about who is responsible for what in Greenland – and that benefited no one, least of all the local communities closest to the project."
Growing Trump Connections
At the Ittoqqortoormiit meeting, one person asked whether Swets had "close relations with Trump." Price replied: "Not that I know of." Social media posts by Swets's wife appear to show that this year she visited Trump's Mar-a-Lago club. Swets did not respond to questions about whether he had accompanied his wife.
Although Swets has said the oil project is "not related to American annexation," Greenland Energy's connections to the US president are growing. In April, Wall Street billionaire Kenneth Griffin bought 9% of Greenland Energy's shares. Griffin is a Republican mega-donor and gave $1 million towards Trump's second inauguration. In June, US Navy veteran Carol Craig joined Greenland Energy's board; her defence tech company Sidus Space is working on Trump's Golden Dome missile defence system, for which controlling Greenland is considered vital.
The same month, Greenland Energy announced a deal with Phil McGraw's Envoy Media. McGraw, better known as Dr Phil, spoke at a Trump rally in 2024 and later embedded with ICE agents enforcing Trump's immigration crackdown. His latest venture, a documentary series about Greenland Energy, will be broadcast on cable and social media, capturing "the mission of these modern-day wildcatters." Discussing the prospect of oil, McGraw said: "We've heard Trump talk about buying Greenland and everybody laughed, but actually there is some real value to Greenland." Days later, McGraw was in the Oval Office with Trump, serving on the president's Religious Liberty Commission.
Some Greenland Energy shareholders are hoping for a "Trump pump" – a presidential plug that could send the company's stock price higher before a drop of oil has been drilled.
