Greenland awards seven licenses in Baffin Bay

Nov. 29, 2010
Greenland’s government last week awarded seven oil and gas exploration licenses in Baffin Bay to seven international companies.

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Nov. 29
-- Greenland’s government last week awarded seven oil and gas exploration licenses in Baffin Bay to seven international companies.

The Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum said it had received 17 block applications from 12 companies by the May 1 deadline.

The block awards, from north to south, are:

• Qamut Block 2, ConocoPhillips Global Greenland Ltd., DONG Gronland AS, and Nunaoil AS.

• Anu Block 5, Shell Kanumas AS, Statoil Greenland AS, GDF Suez E&P Greenland AS, and Nunaoil.

• Pitu Block 6, Capricorn Greenland Exploration 1 Ltd. and Nunaoil.

• Napu Block 8, Shell Kanumas AS, Statoil Greenland, GDF Suez, and Nunaoil.

• Tooq Block 9, Maersk Oil Kalallit Nunaat AS and Nunaoil

• Napariaq Block 13, Capricorn Greenland and Nunaoil.

• Ingoraq Block 14, Capricorn Greenland and Nunaoil.

The blocks cover 8,000 to 15,000 sq km each and total 70,768 sq km. That brings the total area under license off western and southern Greenland to about 200,000 sq km, including the licenses in force in the Davis Strait to the south (see map, OGJ, Aug. 24, 2009, p. 38).

All of the Baffin Bay blocks lie between 70° and 75° 30’ N. Lat. and between 55° and 67° W. Long. The southwest corner of Block 8 lies less than 50 km from Canadian waters off Baffin Island.

Nunaoil, Greenland’s publicly owned oil company founded in 1985, has a stake in each block.

Capricorn, a subsidiary of Cairn Energy PLC, Edinburgh, encountered oil shows in volcanics in the Alpha-1ST well in the southeastern part of the 11,033 sq km Sigguk block, which abuts the western part of Ingoraq Block 14 (OGJ Online, Oct. 26, 2010). Another well on Sigguk encountered gas in thin sands.

Sigguk and Eqqua, which adjoins Sigguk to the south, are both in the Baffin Bay basin.