Greenland's unexplored oil region may hold the next major breakthrough

Greenland’s Oil Frontier: A New Chapter in Arctic Exploration

The pursuit of untapped oil reserves has a history of reshaping the global energy landscape. Notable milestones include the 1968 discovery at Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay—the largest oil field ever found in the United States—and Exxon’s 2015 breakthrough in Guyana’s Stabroek Block, now believed to contain over 11 billion barrels of recoverable oil.

Both of these game-changing finds began with a handful of geologists drilling in regions long dismissed by the broader industry.

Today, Greenland Energy is preparing to explore a similarly overlooked frontier: the remote Jameson Land basin on Greenland’s eastern coast, one of the Arctic’s last unexplored petroleum systems.

This initiative comes at a pivotal moment. Greenland has rapidly emerged as a geopolitical hotspot, with the United States seeking to strengthen its influence as new Arctic shipping lanes open and both Russia and China expand their regional activities.

As a result, Greenland is no longer just an isolated Arctic territory; it has become a critical energy frontier.

Jameson Land: One of the Arctic’s Most Promising Untapped Oil Regions

Greenland Energy was established to capitalize on the surge of international interest in Greenland and the Arctic. The company is the product of a merger involving Texas-based March GL, Greenland Exploration Ltd., and Pelican Acquisition Corporation—a Nasdaq-listed special purpose acquisition company currently trading as PELI. The merger is expected to finalize on March 17th, after which the combined entity will operate as Greenland Energy Company under the ticker GLND.

This structure unites the project’s operational team, exploration rights, and the capital required to advance drilling in the Jameson Land basin. The company will be led by seasoned oil executive Robert Price, founder of March GL.

The company’s mission is straightforward: to drill the first modern exploration wells in Jameson Land and evaluate what geologists suspect could be one of the Arctic’s largest untapped petroleum systems.

Greenland Energy’s own estimates suggest the basin may hold over 13 billion barrels of recoverable oil, should geological models prove accurate. This projection is based on approximately 1,800 kilometers of seismic data originally gathered by Atlantic Richfield in the 1980s, which has since been reanalyzed using modern techniques to identify new drilling prospects.

Recent interpretations indicate the basin’s potential could be even greater, a view echoed by independent analysts. A petroleum resource assessment by Sproule-ERCE also identifies Jameson Land as one of the most significant undrilled oil provinces in the Arctic.

Jameson Land’s Geological Appeal

Jameson Land has attracted renewed attention due to its unique geology. Before tectonic shifts separated Greenland from northern Europe, both were part of a single sedimentary basin along the Atlantic margin. As the continents drifted apart, the same rock layers were carried with them.

On the European side, these formations became the prolific oil fields of the North Sea, which have produced tens of billions of barrels since the 1970s and underpin Europe’s offshore energy sector. Jameson Land sits on the western edge of this same North Atlantic petroleum system. Research by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland has identified Permian-Triassic source rocks and reservoirs in the basin—formations that also host many North Sea oil fields.

For geologists, the essential ingredients for a major petroleum system are already present in Jameson Land.

The first serious exploration was conducted by Atlantic Richfield, which collected around 1,800 kilometers of seismic data and confirmed the presence of an active petroleum system through rock samples. However, the timing was unfavorable: oil prices collapsed in the late 1980s, and the high costs of operating in such a remote region led ARCO to relinquish its licenses in the early 1990s, leaving behind a valuable seismic archive.

Decades later, as competition for Arctic resources intensifies, Greenland Energy’s team has returned to Jameson Land, reprocessing the old seismic data with advanced imaging technology—the same kind that has enabled major discoveries in other frontier basins.

The Visionary Behind Greenland’s Oil Push

At the helm of this effort is Robert Price, a veteran Texas oilman with over forty years of experience drilling in challenging environments across the United States. While Price has contributed to the discovery of millions of barrels of oil in places like Oklahoma, Kansas, North Dakota, and Montana, Greenland represents a much larger opportunity.

“Throughout my career, I’ve found millions of barrels of oil,” Price noted in an interview. “But I’ve never drilled for billions.”

After reviewing historical data from Jameson Land, Price founded March GL, convinced that the region’s potential had never been fully explored. The merger with Pelican Acquisition Corporation and Greenland Exploration Ltd. has now paved the way for Greenland Energy to drill the first modern exploration wells in the basin in decades.

2026: The First Wells Set to Be Drilled

Greenland Energy is preparing to drill two initial exploration wells in Jameson Land, targeting large geological structures first identified in the 1980s and now re-examined with state-of-the-art technology.

The company estimates the first well will require an investment of about $40 million, with a second well projected at $20 million. The goal is to determine whether the basin’s geological promise holds true once drilling reaches the reservoir.

If successful, these wells could confirm the presence of a petroleum system capable of supporting a major new Arctic oil province.

Greenland’s Strategic Importance on the World Stage

Greenland has evolved from a remote Arctic outpost to a focal point of international strategy. In recent years, it has become one of the most contested strategic locations in the northern hemisphere. Former President Donald Trump repeatedly emphasized Greenland’s importance for U.S. national security, citing its position between North America, Europe, and the Arctic Ocean.

From a defense perspective, Greenland anchors the western end of the Greenland-Iceland-UK gap—a vital corridor for monitoring Russian naval movements into the North Atlantic.

But Greenland’s significance extends beyond security. The island is believed to contain vast reserves of rare earth elements and other critical minerals that are increasingly vital to Western technology and defense supply chains.

As a result, Greenland has become a central focus for governments seeking access to rare earths and a strategic position in the Arctic, along key shipping lanes and military routes connecting North America and Europe.

For oil companies, Jameson Land represents one of the last major unexplored petroleum systems on Earth—making it a renewed target for exploration.

By Tom Kool

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