Norway’s Statoil has confirmed that the company has handed back three of its four oil and gas exploration licenses located offshore Greenland.
Namely, three licenses off the west coast of Greenland were handed back by the end of 2014, but the company kept one license off the east coast where the deadline for drilling is longer.
In an e-mail sent to Offshore Energy Today, Statoil’s spokesperson confirmed that the company has made a decision to exit three licenses on the west coast of Greenland.
When asked about the reason behind this decision, Statoil’s spokesperson said: “Our licence commitments have been filled. Given the subsurface potential, the general cost picture and corporate priorities we have decided to exit the licences.”
Furthermore, regarding the one remaining license, the spokesperson noted, “the licence in block 6 on the east coast of Greenland remains in our portfolio”.
In addition to Statoil, Danish newspaper Politiken reports that French GDF Suez and Danish DONG Energy have also handed back their exploration licenses explaining that it is too risky and too expensive.
Offshore Energy Today recently reported that Maersk Oil postponed a decision on whether to drill for oil off the coast of Greenland.
Update: January 14, 17:50 CET
In an e-mail sent to Offshore Energy Today, DONG Energy’s spokesperson said: “We have pulled out of the Qamut-license located offshore West Greenland. The remaining owners of the license are ConocoPhillips (operator) and Nunaoil.”
Offshore Energy Today Staff
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