According to an assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey, Greenland “contains approximately 31,400 million barrels oil equivalent (MMBOE) of oil” and other fuel products, including around 148 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
“That’s the kind of reserves that if they were discovered in Saudi Arabia or Qatar, businesses would be jumping for joy,” said Ajay Parmar, a senior crude markets analyst with commodities intelligence firm ICIS.
“Of course, given it’s in Greenland, there would be technical challenges putting in place the piping to extract it and get it around the world,” he said. “But there’s still a major commercial opportunity there, even if it would require a lot of time and effort to make it work.”
However, in 2021, Greenland introduced a moratorium on oil and gas exploitation after the socialist, pro-independence Inuit Ataqatigiit party took power, vowing to “take the climate crisis seriously.”
Drill, baby, drill
Trump, by contrast, has vowed to “unleash American energy” once he takes office, and has summed up his support for pumping more oil and gas in general with a simple slogan, “drill, baby, drill.” He has also promised to overturn a Biden administration freeze on new natural gas projects and consistently reneged on U.S. climate change commitments.
Environmental campaigners worry that the prospect of Greenland falling into Trump’s hands could mean the oil and gas drilling ban is dropped, leading to more emissions they say amounts to a “carbon bomb.”