Greenland: BMP to license area off northeast

April 12, 2011
Greenland's Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum will license 50,000 sq km off Northeast Greenland in 2012-13.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 12 -- Greenland's Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum will license 50,000 sq km off Northeast Greenland in 2012-13.

The area to be licensed is divided in 39 blocks from 75° 30 min. to 79° 30 min. N. Lat. and from 7° 30 min. to 16° W. Long. Companies that were paying participants in the KANUMAS research group will have first priority.

The blocks lie in less than 500 m of water near shore in the Greenland Sea between Iceland and Spitsbergen. Geologically they are in the North and South Danmarkshavn rift basins. These basins were the most endowed of five areas in a US Geological Survey assessment that estimated all of Northeast Greenland to contain a mean undiscovered resource of 17 billion bbl of oil and natural gas liquids and 86 tcf of gas.

Bid deadlines are Dec. 15, 2012, for KANUMAS participants and Oct. 15, 2013, for all other companies. Greenland's Nunaoil must be carried for 12.5% interest in the exploration phase.