A tiny remote community in north-east Greenland is blocking a potentially huge oil project. The Texas oilman behind it claims that the reserves beneath Jameson Land could be worth $1tn.
The project has the blessing of Trump’s “envoy” to Greenland, Louisiana governor Jeff Landry, who told Fox News earlier this year that Greenland could be exporting oil within 10 months or so.
But that was before Greenland Energy’s chief executive Robert Price, encountered the 328 Inuit of Ittoqqortoormiit. He promised Greenland 15% of the revenues in taxes, 100 jobs and the usual blandishments of American civilisation. But community leader Hans Brolund declared him “manipulative” and refused to believe him.
Greenland Energy went ahead anyway. It had raised $70m to start work, including a major stake from Citadel, a hedge fund founded by billionaire Trump supporter Ken Griffin. The company loaded ships with drilling equipment and sailed for Greenland’s Jameson Land, just 30 miles from the Ittoqqortoormiit community.
However, there were problems. The first one was that, in 2021, the government in Nuuk announced that it was ceasing to issue new oil and gas exploration licences. Greenland Energy was unfazed. Its licenses predated the ban and were therefore still valid. But they also needed a positive environmental impact report. For that they needed the support of the people of Ittoqqortoormiit. The company failed to secure it.
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The Greenland government, however, wanted to encourage investment, so it told Greenland Energy that logistical preparations could be made but stressed that equipment could not be landed and drilling could not begin without the necessary approvals. Greenland radio reported that investors were hopeful of a “Trump pump” to push through the drilling operations and push up the share price.
The company was clearly confident that it could ignore the restrictions. On July 29, a tug and a barge chartered by Greenland Energy arrived at Constable Point, Jameson Land and unloaded an excavator and containers filled with drilling equipment. Shortly afterwards Trump issued one of his AI-generated pictures of his face looming over Greenland with the caption “Hello Greenland”.
The “Trump pump,” however, failed to materialise. The White House was silent and remains so. Copenhagen let the Greenlanders deal with the problem, which they did by issuing a stern warning and ordering Greenland Energy to remove its equipment from Jameson Land. Greenland Energy suffered an embarrassing – and expensive – climbdown.
But the Texans have not given up. Executive chairman Larry Swets has launched a hearts-and-minds campaign to win over the Inuit. Hunting and fishing are the economic backbone of the locals. In 1972, the US Congress passed the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which restricted imports of seal products. Five years later Brigitte Bardot poisoned the European market when she led a TV crew to the Canadian Arctic to film the annual clubbing of seal pups.
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Swets’s proposal is to amend the ban to allow 30,000 of Greenland’s sealskin pelts into the US. He has written a 36-page document that includes a draft bill. If Swets’s proposal were adopted, it could substantially increase Greenland’s access to the US market for sealskins.
There is, however, an obvious contradiction in Greenland Energy’s sealskin diplomacy which has been recognised by the locals. The company wants Washington to open a lucrative new market for Greenlandic seal products while simultaneously pursuing oil development close to a community whose hunters depend on seals. Greenland’s own environmental assessments warn that seals are vulnerable to oil spills that could close the hunting grounds.
There is also the assumption that American fashionistas will want to buy sealskins. Washington can repeal or amend a bill, but it cannot reverse half a century of public opinion. The seals for oil strategy may make the statute books, but persuading women to walk down Fifth Avenue wearing glossy sealskin coats is another matter.
