Greenland Bets on Oil, Metals, Cows as Way to Independence
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Greenland is betting a two-year commodity-price boom will bring it closer to ending almost three centuries of Danish colonial rule.
The Arctic island is becoming a hotspot for drillers as easier-to-access resources dwindle, crude prices tripled since 2008 and tighter legislation in the Gulf of Mexico attracts companies such as Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. Waters off Greenland may hold 48 billion barrels of oil equivalent, the U.S. Geological Survey estimates, almost double 2009 U.S. oil reserves. The island has also become a target for companies seeking minerals such as iron and diamonds.