Why a U.S. oil firm set up drilling gear in Greenland without permission

Months after U.S. President Donald Trump escalated his threats to annex Greenland, the semi-autonomous Arctic island is pushing back against another threat — the setting up of drilling infrastructure by a U.S. oil company on its territory without permission. U.S.-based oil company Greenland Energy is preparing to drill for oil in Greenland, having moved drilling equipment to the island’s east coast.While it can take years for any kind of drilling operations to start functioning in the Arctic, the move sends a “signal” to Greenland and Denmark, said Maj. Gen. (Retd.) Scott Clancy, a fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and the former director of operations of NORAD.“By placing logistics elements in there, preparing for the drilling, it sends a signal that we’re going to go ahead and do this with or without your approval. Or we’ll ask for approval after we have it, which you’ll have no choice but to give,” he said. Story continues below advertisement “That sets a very difficult precedent as it pertains to the protection of sovereignty,” he added.The oil exploration project is on a peninsula in eastern Greenland called Jameson Land Basin. The basin is “one of the largest un...