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" When the 748-foot Stena Forth plows into the deep waters of Greenland&amp;#039;s Disko West zone next summer, the advanced drillship will be taking the first crack at what could be the world&amp;#039;s biggest untapped reservoir of oil and gas. The ship, built by Samsung in South Korea&amp;#039;s Geoje shipyard just over a year ago, can drill to 35,000 feet, in 10,000 feet of water. It is being leased by Cairn Energy, making that oil company the first to drill in Greenland&amp;#039;s waters since five exploratory wells were sunk in the 1970s. The company had been planning to begin drilling in 2011, but announced in December that it was moving its schedule up by a year. The United States Geologic Survey estimates the country&amp;#039;s offshore reserves could hold 50 billion barrels of oil and gas, or nearly one-third of the arctic total.  The country, which voted for increased independence from Denmark last year, has a population of only 58,000\u2014that makes for more than 860,000 barrels per person, if the USGS estimate is spot-on. No oil hasn&amp;#039;t been found yet, let alone exploited. But many of the world&amp;#039;s biggest oil companies, including Exxon and Chevron, have acquired offshore leases and conducted geological studies in the past few years. They are attracted by high projected demand for oil in the coming decades and the retreat of arctic ice.  While hunters, who make up a sizable proportion of Greenland&amp;#039;s population, are suffering as a result of climate change, government officials quietly confirm that warming temperatures should bring new riches to the country. In addition to oil and gas, the retreat of ice is prompting new onshore mining ventures, and in coming decades Greenland could benefit from shipping as the Northwest Passage become a viable alternative to the Suez and Panama Canals. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a5065/4341384/>