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None of the oil companies that have a license to drill in the seas surrounding Greenland have applied for one in 2014, according to the environment NGO Greenpeace.
Oil companies that want to drill in Greenland will have to apply before 1 February, but according to Greenland’s Mining Agency, no applications have been received thus far.
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This will be the 3rd year in a row that no company has expressed interest in oil drilling around the Arctic country.
Though oil has never been found in Greenland, the deposits are estimated to be huge, especially in the northeastern and western parts of the country. However, oil drilling is complicated due to icebergs, rough weather and drifting ice.
“For the third year in a row, the oil companies stay away from the risky drillings and the release of big amounts of chemicals into the Greenlandic seas,” Jon Burgwald from Greenpeace Denmark told the newspaper Politiken.
“An oil spill in Greenland would be a catastrophe for both the environment and the fishery, and no one – not even the Danish defence or the companies – can clean up if there’s an accident,” he explained.
The town of Tasiilaq (former: Ammassaliq) in East Greenland image via Shutterstock.
Read more at EurActiv.
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