Petroleum geological activities in West Greenland in 1998

Abstract

In the last few years there has been renewed interest for petroleum exploration in West Greenland and licences have been granted to two groups of companies: the Fylla licence operated by Statoil was awarded late in 1996; the Sisimiut-West licence operated by Phillips Petroleum was awarded in the summer of 1998 (Fig. 1). The first offshore well for more than 20 years will be drilled in the year 2000 on one of the very spectacular structures within the Fylla area. To stimulate further petroleum exploration around Greenland – and in particular in West Greenland – a new licensing policy has been adopted. In July 1998, the administration of mineral and petroleum resources was transferred from the Danish Ministry of Environment and Energy to the Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum under the Government of Greenland in Nuuk. Shortly after this, the Greenlandic and Danish governments decided to develop a new exploration strategy. A working group consisting of members from the authorities (including the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland – GEUS) made recommendations on the best ways to stimulate exploration in the various regions on- and offshore Greenland. The strategy work included discussions with seismic companies because it was considered important that industry acquires additional seismic data in the seasons 1999 and 2000.