Nov. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. and five other companies searching for oil and gas on Greenland formed a group to share information about exploration in the waters around the island that may hold as much in reserves as the North Sea.

The Greenland Oil Industry Association, or GOIA, will hold talks with the local Inuit government on environmental and safety issues, Skaerbaek, Denmark-based Dong Energy A/S, one of the seven companies, said today in a statement.

The companies, which also include Cairn Energy PLC, Husky Energy Inc., Nunaoil A/S and PA Resources AB, have bought licenses to explore on the island’s west coast where Greenland’s government has estimated reserves may equal those in the North Sea. Exploration hasn’t started and Greenland’s Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum has said it doesn’t expect commercial production to start until 2015 or 2020.

“The energy companies present in Greenland have been in dialogue on the need for a common approach to several issues with increased focus on Greenland as a potential oil and gas region,” Dong’s Arne Rosenkrands, who will be GOIA’s chairman, said in the statement. “We’re confident that GOIA will deliver a solid contribution to the successful development of the industry in Greenland.”

The global Arctic regions probably hold 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas and about 13 percent of the oil, the U.S. Geological Survey said in May.

Greenland, which last year voted for greater independence from Denmark, will offer another license round next year in the Baffin Bay and has another one planned in 2012 and 2013 for the Greenland Sea.

To contact the reporter on this story: Christian Wienberg in Copenhagen at cwienberg@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 6, 2009 05:46 EST