Trump says ‘massive’ oil and gas drilling is about to begin in Greenland

President Donald Trump claimed early Wednesday that “massive oil, gas and mineral exploitation is getting ready to begin” in Greenland, without providing further detail about the operation.

“There are experts that are saying that the amount of easily available oil is far greater than that of almost any land, anywhere in the world,” he wrote on Truth Social just after midnight.

Since returning to the White House, Trump has repeatedly threatened to take control of Greenland, an autonomous part of Denmark, or to access its natural resources – including its vast and untapped minerals, angering close European and NATO partners.

Researchers have previously suggested it would be extremely difficult and expensive to extract Greenland’s minerals because many of the island’s deposits are located in remote areas above the Arctic Circle, where there is a mile-thick polar ice sheet. Approximately 80 percent of the island is covered in ice.

Last month the US, Denmark, and Greenland reached an agreement intended to help resolve tensions following Trump’s threats to annex the strategically located island.

The agreement, which Trump claimed at the time gave the US “permanent control” over Greenland’s security, begins with an acknowledgment of Denmark’s sovereignty and Greenlanders’ right to self-determination.

The agreement, which makes small changes to a 1951 treaty that gives the US permission to station troops in Greenland as part of NATO’s defense, makes no explicit mention of oil or gas, but acknowledges “minerals cooperation” and “cooperation on economic development and business promotion,” with no further specifics, according a text of the agreement published on the White House’s website.

It also paves the way for additional US bases, and an assurance of US military access if Greenland becomes independent from Denmark.

In his post on Wednesday, Trump said, “Any future attack on the United States will have to come across Greenland, where our Defense will routinely knock down drones, missiles, or any other form of weapon not yet even conceived.”

CNN has reached out to the White House, to the Danish Prime Minister’s Office, and to Greenland’s government and Mineral Resources Authority for comment.