The upcoming north Greenland licensing rounds will release the largely unexplored arctic territory to exploration, possibly resulting in valuable discoveries. (Image courtesy of TGS-NOPEC)

Offshore Greenland has a steadily increasing reputation as one of the most prospective yet untouched locations in the world.

As recognition of the area’s potential continues to escalate, The Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum (BMP) of Greenland recently announced plans to evaluate possible license calls in the Baffin Bay offshore northwest Greenland and the Greenland Sea offshore northeast Greenland. Final governmental decisions are expected to be made in early September 2009. According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), “The extensive Arctic continental shelf may constitute the geographically largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on earth.”

As of yet, no wells have been drilled in the Baffin Bay area, but geological correlations can be made to onshore findings and preexisting wells further south.

The overall stratigraphy is thought to consist of mainly Cretaceous and Cenozoic sediments, while the northwest Greenland margin itself is essentially separated into varying natural structural provinces. Perhaps one of the most prospective subdivisions is the Melville Bay graben and ridge, with its lengthy and extremely thick kitchen possessing the capability to have produced large amounts of hydrocarbons. Cretaceous tilted fault blocks and anticlinal structures, forming potential traps near the main kitchen, are believed to be present in the ridge flanks.

The pre-licensing round for the blocks located off of northeastern Greenland in the Greenland Sea area are specifically reserved for companies associated with KANUMAS, a regional seismic project conducted in 1989. Former paying KANUMAS members or companies 100% affiliated with a member may participate in the Jan. 1, 2012 call. A date has not yet been selected for the ordinary licensing round open to all parties.

The Greenland Sea region is assumed to hold a complete post-Caledonian succession, from Devonian to present. The long-term rifting in the area may have produced several offshore syn-rift sand deposits, along with a sand-prone middle Jurassic sequence that could possibly be the principle reservoir target on the northeastern Greenland shelf. Upper Carboniferous fluvial sandstones, Oil seeps were found onshore northeast Greenland in 1990 along a fault zone with suggested long distance migration.

For conventional resources, according to USGS estimates, west Greenland and the Baffin Bay area contain 7,275 MMbbl of oil, 51,816 Bcf, and 1,152 MMbbl of natural gas liquids. Around half of the undiscovered resources are believed to be in the basin rifts.

Northeast Greenland was selected by the USGS to represent the entire unadulterated arctic frontier due to its numerous basins, large resource potential, lack of geological data, and substantial barriers to exploration and development. The Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal was then launched in the Greenland Sea, ultimately producing an estimated mean of 31,400MMboe.

Non-exclusive seismic data over the west Greenland basins, including a regional 2-D grid covering more than 2,716 miles (4,460 km) of the major play types off Greenland acquired from 1990 to 1995, are available through the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland. TGS-NOPEC has also acquired non-exclusive 2-D data of offshore west Greenland.

Kjell Trommestad, vice president and general director Europe for TGS, said that fiscal terms in Greenland are favorable. “The government of Greenland has always been very motivated and predictable with respect to organizing the terms for their shelf,” he said. “The main challenges will be the seasonal ice cover and drifting ice in the spring.”