A Texas-based oil company’s plan to drill Greenland’s first onshore test well on the sparsely populated east coast has been pushed back to the end of 2027, an 18-month delay driven by permitting friction and local opposition that underscores the political sensitivity of resource extraction in the Arctic territory.
The setback comes as President Donald Trump has repeatedly signaled interest in annexing Greenland to tap its petroleum and critical mineral reserves, placing Greenland Energy’s ambitions at the center of a delicate geopolitical moment. The company had planned to begin drilling this summer with a documentary crew overseen by television producer Phil “Dr. Phil” McGraw, but the Greenland government requested a shift to winter drilling for environmental reasons. A subsequent dispute over the movement of drilling equipment triggered a further postponement.
Robert Price, CEO of Greenland Energy, told Fortune he was disappointed but remains convinced the project’s upside is intact. “It was very frustrating. We’ve had some ups and downs in the last week or so,” Price said. “We actually had much of the equipment being mobilized. And when we got word from the government, we shut down the mobilization. We had a drilling rig in Calgary that was en route to Montreal. So there were some sunken costs. A lot of those costs will be able to be used for the next drilling season.”
The delay has taken a toll on investor confidence. Since going public in March on the Nasdaq Global Market, Greenland Energy’s market capitalization has plunged nearly 85% to about $54 million. Price pushed back against concerns about the company’s financial position, saying management preserved significant cash reserves. “Financially, we’re still very sound,” the veteran oilman said.
The Greenland government’s request to drill in winter rather than summer was framed around environmental protection. “The birds have already migrated. The tundra will not be disturbed. We’ll be able to go literally over it when it’s iced up,” Price explained. But winter operations carry their own risks. “The winter can be unpredictable in the Arctic Circle, and so we do worry about the health and safety of our people if someone got injured, being able to get them out,” he added.
The most recent delay stemmed from a misunderstanding over permits required to move drilling equipment to the project site. The Greenland government said it issued a “strong warning” along with a directive that “all future logistical matters must be advised and approved by the mineral resources authority—before they are carried out.” Price said the company realized late in the process that its equipment transport permit had expired at the end of 2025. While a renewal was pending, Greenland Energy arranged with the Greenland Airports authority to store equipment at Nerlerit Inaat Airport, only to learn it needed an additional permit from the government’s minerals authority.
Price said the matter is now resolved and no further delays are expected. “We had indications from the government that we’d get our permits soon and then, as it turned out, they wanted to take their time,” Price said. “We have a real clear timeline on the permitting.”
The prize Price is chasing is substantial. “This one [test] well could be up to 2.9 billion barrels of oil. So the prize is still there, and the upside is still there. The timing is the only thing that’s changed,” he said.
Greenland Energy’s path to drilling runs through a corporate lineage that dates back more than a decade. London-based White Flame Energy was founded to explore for oil and gas in Greenland and secured three licenses for exploration in the Jameson Land Basin—the only licenses in Greenland that have not expired. After winning three-year extensions in 2024, White Flame was acquired by U.K.-based 80 Mile. Price’s company then partnered with 80 Mile to take over the grandfathered licenses, with Price’s team leading operations while 80 Mile retains a 30% stake in the project.
A reverse merger completed earlier this year took Price’s company public under the Greenland Energy name.
The Jameson Land Basin has a long history of failed ambitions. Following the massive Prudhoe Bay discovery in Alaska in the late 1960s, Atlantic Richfield Co.—better known as ARCO and later acquired by BP—identified offshore Greenland as a top prospect in the 1970s. ARCO and partners spent more than $100 million on seismic surveying and assessments, but initial drilling pilots were unsuccessful and the oil industry bust of the 1980s shelved those dreams. The U.K.’s Cairn Energy, now Capricorn Energy, abandoned the most recent drilling effort in 2011 after mixed and mostly failed results.
Nearly all prior attempts were offshore. Greenland Energy is pursuing an onshore approach, and the Jameson Land Basin remains completely undrilled despite decades of geological study. Price believes the basin could be the next Prudhoe Bay.
The documentary project tied to the drilling effort is now on pause. McGraw, the television personality known for his long-running daytime talk show, had overseen a camera crew documenting the effort, but the production’s future remains uncertain following the delays.
Oil drilling in Greenland is particularly sensitive due to a climate change-related moratorium on licensing. Greenland Energy is operating through a grandfathered loophole that allows its inherited licenses to remain active where new ones cannot be issued. That dynamic has drawn scrutiny from local communities and regulators as the White House continues to signal interest in the territory’s resources.