Oil Drilling in Greenland

The announcement last week by Cairn Energy, a British petrochemical company, of the discovery of natural gas in one of their test wells was welcomed news to the Greenlanders. After their hopes had been raised and dashed many times over the past decades, this could indeed be the first indication of worthwhile oil deposits off their coast.

The devastating oil spill on a BP rig in the gulf of Mexico fresh in mind, environmental interest groups were, understandably, quick to denounce the risk of any sea drillings for the natural habitat. Greenpeace’s eco-warriors even had a stand-off with a Danish war ship in Baffin Bay. But while environmental concerns certainly deserve further study, they hardly justify halting the exploration of natural resources (by no way limited to energy). If oil production should indeed prove to be feasible, life of the 56,000 islanders would only turn for the better. With its surface covered for 97% by ice, the rigid climate and the long dark winters, any human or economic development project faces an uphill battle. The proceeds of oil productions on the other hand would help public finances and grant further political independence from Denmark, which is still making up for a big chunk of the island’s income. The private sector would, of course, also profit from the bounty and the life of the ordinary islander be improved.

Aside from trying to reduce pollution and limit ecological disasters, the environmentalist’s intention often is to preserve nature as we know it. But their might be a fundamental error in this thinking. For example, animal and plant fossils of warmer climates have been found in the Arctic zones from Alaska to Siberia and show that these areas once had a much milder climate. To Greenlanders at least the melting of the ice sheet could have unexpected consequences for the better. As does the exploration of their natural resources. Cairn Energy’s slogan “discovering hidden value” in the end might prove true to the desolated islanders in more than one sense.