No New Exploration Permits Offshore Greenland?

No New Exploration Permits Offshore Greenland

Greenland’s recently elected government will be cautious about issuing new offshore oil and gas exploration licences, Reuters has reported, citing the country’s new energy minister who will take his position in April.

Jens Erik Kirkegaard, the next mining and oil minister at the newly chosen government, told Reuters that the current number of licences is enough for the country, and added that the existing agreements will not be affected.

The news has, according to The Associated Press, been welcomed with joy at Greenpeace, which has been trying to put all Arctic drilling operations to a halt.

To remind, in 2011, Greenpeace activists climbed aboard the Leiv Eiriksson rig, off the coast of Greenland, trying to prevent the Scottish oil company Cairn from drilling in the waters of the world’s largest island. They were charged with trespassing and fined 20,000 DKK.

See the video of the activists boarding the rig in 2011:


View on Youtube.

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Offshore Energy Today Staff, March 28, 2013