USGS Fact Sheet 2007-3077: Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas Resources of the East Greenland Rift Basins Province

Introduction

In 2007 the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed an assessment of the potential for undiscovered, technically recoverable (assuming the absence of sea ice) oil and gas resources in the East Greenland Rift Basins Province. Northeast Greenland has been selected as the prototype for the new U.S. Geological Survey Circum-Arctic Resource Appraisal (CARA) because the area shares important characteristics with many arctic basins, including sparse data, significant resource potential, great geological uncertainty, and significant technical barriers to exploration and development. This study, which supersedes a previous USGS assessment of the same area completed in 2000, was necessary because of new information made available through collaboration with the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS), which significantly changes the geological understanding of the area. As defined for CARA, the province includes an area of approximately 500,000 square kilometers, most of which underlies less than 500 meters of water offshore east of Greenland between 70° and 82° North.