Greenland’s government has delivered a “strong warning” to the US after a Texas oil company linked to Donald Trump moved toward drilling in the territory without first receiving permission.
The rebuke came only days before Trump posted an AI-generated image on Truth Social that appeared to show him towering over a village in Greenland.
Greenland Energy, a company that began trading on Nasdaq in March 2026, says the Jameson Land area in eastern Greenland could hold as much as 13 billion barrels of recoverable oil, with a potential value estimated at $1 trillion. The company has said it wants to spend $60 million on exploratory wells, but those plans still have not been signed off by Greenlandic authorities.
Equipment arrived on July 29 when a Danish tugboat delivered a barge carrying an excavator and more than 15 containers to the port of Nerlerit Inaat without advance approval from mineral resources authorities. The company has announced plans to ship approximately 300 additional containers of drilling equipment from Canada in September, with drilling targeted to begin in October. In a shareholder letter, the company said it would initially drill one well instead of two previously planned.
Officials made their position clear in a statement to the Trump administration, writing: “The licence holder will receive a strong warning and a reprimand stating that all future logistical arrangements must be notified to and approved by the mineral resources authorities before they are carried out.” The government added that while the equipment had arrived without approval, it “would not be proportionate” to order its removal while the application remained under review.
Larry Swets, Greenland Energy’s chair and a major shareholder, is known to have access to Trump’s inner circle. Even so, as criticism mounted, he said the development was “not related to American annexation”.
In a recent letter to shareholders, the company said: “Recent high-level meetings between project leadership and Greenlandic regulatory and oversight authorities have been constructive, and we continue to be encouraged by the progress being made toward the remaining approvals required for drilling.”
Greenland has not issued new oil licenses since 2021 on environmental grounds, though Greenland Energy acquired exploration rights previously held by British company 80 Mile. The approval from a prior holder has since expired and remains under processing.
Tensions between Greenland and the US have already been high this year after Trump threatened annexation and declined to rule out military action. In January, Trump intensified pressure on the self-governing Danish territory, refusing to rule out using military force to acquire it. He later pledged at the World Economic Forum in late January not to use force or tariffs to annex Greenland, but this week he renewed his threats. In an interview with The Atlantic in early January, he said: “Countries have to have ownership and you defend ownership, you don’t defend leases. And we’ll have to defend Greenland.”
He later added on Truth Social: “For purposes of National Security and Freedom throughout the World, the United States of America feels that the ownership and control of Greenland is an absolute necessity. Ken will do a wonderful job in representing the interests of the United States.”
Greenland’s foreign minister, Vivian Motzfeldt, rejected that position, saying: “Greenland does not want to be owned by, governed by or part of the United States. We choose the Greenland we know today – as part of the Kingdom of Denmark.”