Billion-barrel gamble in Greenland

A view of Ittoqqortoormiit in eastern Greenland. The remote area has been targeted by a US-British joint venture for potential oil exploration. — Esther Horvath/The New York Times

IN one of the most remote towns on Earth, on the frozen crust of Greenland’s east coast, the American oilman made his pitch.

Near the very room where they were sitting, he told a crowd of Greenlanders, could be as much as 13 billion barrels of oil.