Danish territory Greenland is to issue new offshore exploration licences, but only as current ones are relinquished.
This apparent stance of the new Greenlandic government differs from a view expressed in March by the Social Democratic Siumut party, which said government would be “reluctant” to offer more licences and that existing licences would be under more scrutiny.
Among the companies holding licences in Greenland are Shell, Statoil, Cairn, ConocoPhillips and Maersk.
The US Geological Survey has estimated that the Greenlandic basin may hold around 17billion barrels of hydrocarbons. However, a commercial discovery has yet to be made.
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