An energy exploration company with ties to the Donald Trump administration has announced a merger it says will expedite its development plans for Greenland’s resources, as private players and foreign nations—notably the U.S.—vie for an economic foothold in the territory. On Tuesday, the Texas-based firm Greenland Energy said it had agreed terms to acquire the British company 80 Mile, which holds the drilling rights to the Jameson Land Basin—a so-far untapped area in East Greenland covering roughly two million acres. The two companies are already involved in a joint venture aimed at exploiting the basin’s energy endowment.
Greenland Energy executives believe $1 trillion worth of oil could be sitting beneath the plot, and 80 Mile told Newsweek previously that the project could “rewire global oil flows if successful.” The pair said that the merger—valuing 80 Mile at £61.5 million ($83.4 million)—would consolidate ownership of the Jameson licenses and the company’s other Greenland projects, and streamline the financing, development and monetization of these. "By bringing these companies and assets together, we believe we can create a stronger platform capable of investing in Greenland, creating opportunities for Greenlanders and responsibly developing projects that can contribute to Greenland's long-term economic growth and greater economic self-determination,” said Larry Swets, Greenland Energy’s executive chairman. Newsweek has contacted both companies via email for comment.
The American company was formed last year and is committed to unlocking what it calls Greenland’s "vast hydrocarbon potential through innovative exploration." Its main focus remains the Jameson Land Basin, which it has described as "one of, if not the last, highly prospective, yet completely undrilled basins globally, but with a clear genetic link to the North Sea as well as a scale similar to many of the world’s major producing regions." In 2021, Greenland’s government announced that it would stop issuing new oil and gas exploration licenses and effectively banned the practice over environmental concerns. However, 80 Mile acquired the license before this moratorium, and Greenland Energy has assumed a majority stake in the venture in exchange for funding and carrying out the exploratory drilling. Greenland Energy boasts a number of links to the Trump administration.
Carol Craig, who joined its board of directors in June, heads a defense tech firm currently working on the president’s "Golden Dome" missile defense system. Hedge fund manager Kenneth Griffin, a former Trump critic who donated $1 million to his 2025 inaugural committee, acquired a 9.3 percent stake in the firm earlier this year. And Phil McGraw—the TV personality and Trump ally better known as Dr.
Phil—was hired to present a six-part documentary series chronicling Greenland Energy's "historic Jameson Land Basin project." The two companies received a “strong warning” from Greenlandic authorities last month for transferring drilling equipment to the territory without the necessary authorization. The government subsequently said that the project required a more comprehensive regulatory review before any drilling could commence, pushing the timeline for exploration back to winter next year at the earliest. Hammeken-Holm, Greenland’s permanent secretary for Mineral Resources, later told Newsweek the winter 2027 timeline was "maybe" realistic, and said it was "hard to tell" when drilling could commence.
However, he expressed confidence that Greenland Energy would not begin drilling until it had obtained full permission to do so. Lewis Lawrence, a senior analyst at the global consultancy Wood Mackenzie, told The Telegraph that the delay was “a bit of a reality check for Greenland Energy…[who] maybe thought they could come in and just drill on their own timeline.” But despite the government censuring the companies for their premature preparations, Lukas Wahden, an associate fellow with the Russia Program at George Washington University and an expert on Arctic security, told Newsweek in August that Greenland itself was “quite keen to exploit certain resources to stabilize their financial situation,” which he said could bolster its bid for full statehood from Denmark. Trump has repeatedly argued that the U.S. should control Greenland, and that the territory is crucial for American national security.
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