The deal President Trump struck to end his quest to control Greenland has opened the door to a wave of prospectors who are hoping to cash in on riches they believe are locked beneath the ice.
Among them is Texas oil hunter Robert Price, who is betting he can extract up to 13 billion barrels on the Arctic island -- roughly on par with the largest oil deposit in North America at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
"I've drilled for, and I have found, millions of barrels of oil in my career," Price said. "I've never had an opportunity to drill for billions of barrels."
For at least 150 years, a parade of American speculators and political leaders have been drawn to Greenland -- only to have their ambitions thwarted by the stark realities on the ground, both political and geological.
The latest generation of prospectors is betting this time will be different.
They will have to overcome a bevy of obstacles that have complicated such endeavors for decades: locals suspicious of American intentions, efforts to preserve the island's environment and traditional way of life, and one of the harshest physical climates in the world.
Danish and Greenlandic geologists say Price is overestimating both his odds of success and the amount of oil that might be there. There is no more than a 7% chance of finding usable oil anywhere in the basin due to erosion, degradation and other geological risks, they say.
Price, the 66-year-old chief executive of Denver-based Greenland Energy Company, is undeterred. His plans to drill for oil caught the attention of Phil McGraw, a vocal Trump supporter better known as Dr. Phil, who planned a six-part documentary series in which he would accompany "wildcatter" Price and livestream his drilling attempts.
Price isn't alone. Other American investors circling the island include Drew Horn, a former Green Beret who has plans for a hydropowered AI data center, and Josette Sheeran, a former head of the World Food Program, who chairs an investment group called Greenland Development Partners.
Trump hailed the opportunity for Americans this month after signing the deal with Greenland and Denmark that blocks U.S. rivals China and Russia from investing in the island's natural resources without American approval, and eases the international tension around Greenland that has deterred investors. "Massive Oil, Gas and Mineral Exploration is getting ready to begin in our new and beautiful Greenland!" Trump said on Truth Social.
"The U.S. has deepened its foothold," said Mikkel Vedby Rasmussen, political science professor at the University of Copenhagen. "If the U.S. wants to increase its influence in Greenland -- which will require some investment -- well, then that path is more open than it was before."
Horn is hoping the recent agreement will help lift any lingering suspicions surrounding his efforts. He was among at least three Americans whose visits to the island prompted the Danish government last year to summon the U.S. envoy over accusations that they were working covertly to turn Greenlanders against Denmark, which owns the self-governing territory.
Horn first visited Greenland as a member of a Greenland Policy Coordination Committee, which was formed by the first Trump administration as a body under the National Security Council to explore securing U.S. interests there. He called the allegations that he was part of a covert influence campaign "fantastical."
Horn now heads the GreenMet advisory firm to arrange mineral deals between the U.S. government and private companies. "In reality, I'm just a businessman trying to do deals that benefit all parties. And of course make me and my shareholders the maximum return possible," said Horn.
Sheeran, the former WFP head who served as undersecretary to Condoleezza Rice during her time as secretary of state, is also behind an investment group that has stirred up local questions about its intentions.
Greenland's parliament in Nuuk last year passed a law banning foreigners and nonresidents from buying property on the island. In June, Sheeran's group, Greenland Development Partners, paid $823,000 for a house in central Nuuk in the name of a local business partner, Jørgen Wæver Johansen, according to a bank receipt reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Sheeran's group previously invested in a local boutique spring-water company that Johansen co-owns, and which until recently appeared dormant, according to Greenland's business registry.
Shortly after the house sale, Sheeran arrived to take measurements for furniture, the house's previous owner said. The purchase of the house was earlier reported by Danish newspaper Weekendavisen.
Greenland Development Partners appears to do little actual business in Greenland. A website in its name advertises various investment opportunities, including in hydropower and a submarine telecom cable. However, the Journal wasn't able to verify the identities of 10 team members and advisers listed on the site. A financial institution listed on the site, Nordic Development Bank, has no digital footprint or records of its existence.
Emails sent to all listed addresses for the investment group bounced back. The only contact number on the site connects with an ordering hotline for Domino's Pizza in Denmark.
Sheeran didn't respond to requests for comment. Johansen didn't respond to questions about why Sheeran's group bought a house in his name.
Price, the Texas oil hunter, encountered a barrage of questions this summer when he swept in by helicopter to inform locals in the village of Ittoqqortoormiit of his plans to drill near their homes. Residents suspected he had ties to Trump, and they worried that drilling would damage the waters and hunting grounds they depend on for survival.
Greenland Energy doesn't hold the rights to drill for oil in Greenland. Those belong to 80 Mile, a British company. Price is paying 80 Mile to drill wells at a two-million-acre site on the Jameson Land peninsula in exchange for gradually taking up to a 70% stake in the licenses.
After Price's contentious meeting in Ittoqqortoormiit, the head of 80 Mile, an Australian prospector named Roderick McIllree, took the reins as managing director of Greenland Energy, in an apparent effort to steady the ship. He called off Dr. Phil's documentary, which had helped prompt rumors the project had ties to Trump.
McIllree, who has operated in Greenland for two decades, said his American partners had gotten carried away. "Anyone who turns up for the first time goes, 'Holy s -- , this place is amazing.' Ultimately, they forgot whose house they were in," he said. "You gotta respect the Greenlanders. There's a way to do these things."
A few weeks later, however, Greenland Energy towed a barge with an excavator and containers to the peninsula without the permission of the Greenlandic government, which publicly threatened to send the police and military to deal with "unlawful activities." The company postponed drilling at least until late next year.
Price's oil venture is financed by $90 million raised by Larry Swets, an Illinois-based investor. The money also bought the company access to a second 80 Mile license, to a mineral deposit in west Greenland. Swets said he believes U.S. entrepreneurship can develop Greenland in a way Danish state subsidies -- or foreign aggression -- haven't.
"I could make money in 10 other ways, probably way easier than this," Swets said. "But the driving force for me was that I believe an American-style capitalism can make an actual difference in a place where everyone else, quite frankly, has done a lot of talking and not a lot of doing."
Swets also chairs a company that seeks to deploy robots to Greenland to enhance local manufacturing. To win local trust, Swets in August delivered a 36-page proposal to the White House, calling for it to end a U.S. ban on seal products, Greenland's export of which has collapsed under international restrictions. Swets called his "sealskin diplomacy" a confidence-building gesture to his Greenlandic friends.
"If that's buying influence, then I guess, aren't our whole lives just buying influence with our friends?" Swets said.
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