Greenland announced today that Maersk Oil has been awarded a licence covering Block 9 in Baffin Bay, offshore West Greenland. The frontier exploration block is 11,802 sq km – about one fourth of the total size of Denmark.
Nunaoil, Greenland’s national oil company, will be a partner with a 12.5% interest.
“We are pleased to have been granted the exploration rights for Block 9. We are confident that we can use our strong technical skills and pioneer mindset to turn the exploration work into a commercial success,” said Lars Nydahl Jørgensen, Head of Exploration at Maersk Oil.
Maersk Oil, recognising the sensitive environment of the region, is committed to running a safe and responsible operation in Greenland. Any drilling activity will not start for another 3-5 years and will commence only after all environmental aspects of the operation have been fully assessed and addressed.
“Our top priority is a strong safety and environmental performance and we will cooperate closely with the Greenland authorities and independent experts in implementing these objectives,” Jørgensen said. “We will start our drilling campaign only if we are sure we can do it without putting both the environment and our people at risk.”
Maersk Oil will immediately begin work on plans to establish a field research facility located in the Baffin Bay area, to be made available for use to the authorities, the industry and the scientific community at large. In this way, Maersk Oil hopes the facility will be of benefit to Greenland and the environment as a whole.
Maersk Oil now plans to acquire, process and interpret quality seismic data. If exploration activities lead to the discovery of commercially viable field development, oil production could commence in 10-15 years from today.
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Source: Maersk, November 29, 2010: