Roderick McIllree will become director of Greenland Energy Company and will in future be responsible for all approval processes in Greenland and the involvement of stakeholders in the Nunap Qeqqa project (Jameson Land).
There has been great virak about the exploration for oil in Nunap Qeqqa (Jameson Land, ed.), since the American company Greenland Energy Company has entered into the project.
In particular, director Robert Price has attracted attention with his statements about expectations for the schedule and the possible discovery of oil, as well as the director’s appearance during a public meeting in Ittoqqortoormiit.
Now the company is putting Roderick McIllree in the management, where he will be given the title of “managing director”. Robert Price will remain chief executive, but Roderick McIllree will be responsible for the project in Greenland, including all approval processes in Greenland and the involvement of stakeholders.
Chairman of the board Larry Swets acknowledges in a press release that Greenland Energy Company has created confusion about the project:
“Our enthusiasm for the project led us to communicate in a way that created confusion about who is responsible for what in Greenland – and that benefited no one, least of all the local communities closest to the project.”
Noting the concerns
The chairman of the board describes Greenland Energy Company’s future role as follows:
“We are here to finance the drilling program and provide technical support. The approval process, the involvement of the local communities and the relationship with the Greenlandic authorities rests with 80 Mile and White Flame. This is how it should be and how it will be,” says Larry Swets.
McIllree is chairman of White Flame Energy, which holds the exploration license in Nunap Qeqqa. He is also a director of 80 Mile, which acquired White Flame Energy in 2024.
The company further writes that they have noted the concern about apparently different announcements and they want to contribute with the following:
“The independent assessment by Sproule ERCE estimates that Nunap Qeqqa contains prospective recoverable resources of up to 13 billion barrels of oil. This is a speculative number with a probability of success of 10%. The technical and geological potential is precisely what attracts investors: They invest capital on the possibility that the 10% turns out to be true, thereby making available the approximately DKK 550 million required to finance the two exploration wells,” the company writes.
They also state that they cannot say with certainty how many barrels of oil exist.
Roderick McIllree states that the highest priority is to secure the necessary permits for the two exploratory drilling planned for later this year and to maintain constructive cooperation with the Greenlandic authorities and local communities.
