Cairn Energy announces Greenland oil find | Business | The Guardian

Cairn Energy announces Greenland oil find | Business | The Guardian

Cairn energy's oil discovery in pristine waters off Greenland is likely to alarm environmentalists. The Scottish oil producer Cairn Energy has said it had found oil in the untouched waters off the coast of Greenland, a discovery that will alarm environmentalists, although it was welcomed by local officials and investors.

However, the company, which had previously announced a gas find in the pristine region, said that it had abandoned that earlier test well after deciding the volume was not commercially viable.

Cairn's founder, Sir Bill Gammell – the former Scottish rugby international and public school friend of Tony Blair – described the find in Baffin Bay, the sea between Greenland and Canada, as "extremely encouraging", but cautioned that further analysis was needed.

The exploration group was the FTSE 100's second biggest riser after it said that it had found oil for the first time since it began drilling in the Arctic waters.