Greenland Southwest Greenland exploration basin

The Southwest Greenland Basin remains a highly under-explored frontier area. Whilst the area contains high subsurface potential and is governed by a reasonably attractive fiscal regime, exploration comes with significant technical and commercial challenges. The most recent drilling activity was carried out in 2011 when Cairn Energy operated two rigs to complete five deepwater wells, one of which was a re-entry. All of these wells were dry holes, but future exploration is anticipated to continue to target deepwater Cretaceous prospects. There are numerous challenges in the basin, including; the absence of any in-place infrastructure; the deep water environment; and difficulty in mobilising equipment to this remote Arctic location. This is compounded by the current low oil price environment, which is placing increased pressure on budgets. Drilling is not expected to return to the basin until the oil price has recovered, and we have forecast exploration drilling to return in 2020.