If you\u2019re pals with the President of the United States, you apparently don\u2019t need permission to start drilling for oil in other countries. <\/p>\n
What happened: Greenland Energy, a Texas-based company set up last year, has brought<\/a> oil drilling equipment ashore in Greenland, prompting a warning from the Arctic island\u2019s government that it had not granted the company permission to drill in its territory.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company says that it believes US$1 trillion worth of crude oil may lie beneath a remote region of Greenland called Jameson Land, and says it plans<\/a> to drill a well to test that theory.<\/p>\n Greenland has not issued new licenses for oil drilling since 2021, and the government says it has not approved Greenland Energy\u2019s plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n Why it matters: Greenland Energy\u2019s drill-first, ask-questions-later approach could become a test of how rigorously Greenland \u2014 and Denmark, of which it is an autonomous territory \u2014 will defend its sovereignty against incursions by the U.S.\u00a0<\/p>\n Donald Trump has recently revived talk of annexing Greenland, promising<\/a> that it would be \u201cunder U.S. operational control\u201d before he left office.<\/p>\n