Greenland

Since 2007, Cairn has secured a number of interests in offshore hydrocarbon exploration licences to the west and south of Greenland. These six operated and two non-operated blocks provide an exciting opportunity for us to explore in such northern waters for the first time – a region believed to be one of the world's major remaining sources of undiscovered hydrocarbons.

The eight blocks in which we have interests cover an area of approximately 72,000 square kilometres in water of depths between 50 metres and 2,200 metres. Only six exploration wells have been drilled offshore Greenland to date, five of which were drilled in the 1970s and one in 2000.

Exploration in such an area involves significant corporate responsibility challenges. These range from health and safety issues resulting from operating in highly variable climatic conditions with extreme cold during the winter, to meeting the expectations of local people, through to minimising potential environmental impacts.

Cairn has been working to ensure that effective CR management mitigates any risks connected to our activities. These include operating only at certain times of the year so as to avoid ice and extreme weather, an appropriate level of stakeholder consultation to ensure we understand local concerns and keep the necessary groups informed of our activities and ensuring we meet and, where possible, exceed both Greenlandic and international regulatory requirements.

Our activities in 2009 included:

• a 2D seismic survey offshore East Greenland from July to September;
• an ice-monitoring survey offshore Disko West from July to October;
• a Controlled Source Electromagnetic (CSEM) survey offshore Disko West from August to September;
• seabed surveys / environmental baseline surveys offshore Disko West from August to October; and
• a 2D seismic survey offshore South Greenland from September to October.

Our planned activities for 2010 include:

• a drilling programme for up to four wells offshore Disko West in the Sigguk block. Drilling to be carried out by two MODUs (Mobile Offshore Drilling Units) one of which is a drillship and the other a semi-submersible drilling rig. The drilling operations are supported by a range of vessels designed not just to provide day-to-day platform support and resupply, but also equipped to act as icebreakers, ice management vessels, emergency response and rescue, oil recovery and tugs;
• a programme of seabed survey / environmental baseline surveys; and
• 2D seismic surveys offshore South Greenland and offshore West Greenland.