Swedish oil company joins hunt for oil and gas in Greenland

The licences were signed by Kim Kielsen, Minister for Minerals and Petroleum, and the two companies on 23 May 2008.

The Disko West licencing round in the offshore area between 67ºN and 71ºN off Disko-Nuussuaq in West Greenland was closed for applications on 1 February 2008. The first phase of the licencing round led to the signing of four licenses for the oil companies Exxon, Chevron, Husky and DONG as well as NUNAOIL. The second phase led to a further two licences for the oil company Cairn and NUNAOIL and now the final licence is being awarded to PA Resources and NUNAOIL.

In recent years the number of exploration and exploitation licences awarded has increased from the original two to eleven; a five-fold increase. The total area covered by licences has increased from the original 6,882 km2 to 100,264 km2 and is now 15-times larger.

Information about the licence holder
Today, PA Resources is the largest oil producer in Tunisia, with production, development of fields and exploration activities both onshore and offshore. In Norway the company is involved in developing the Volve field as well as several other offshore exploration licences. The company also holds a licence for the promising exploration areas in Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of the Congo.

NUNAOIL A/S is Greenland’s publicly owned oil company. The company was established in 1985 and it has a share in all the oil exploration licences in Greenland.