Cairn to up pace on Greenland frontier

Cairn Energy hopes to begin drilling as early as next year in Greenland, probably the world's last great undiscovered oil frontier.

Cairn, which rocketed into the FTSE 100 on the back of huge finds in the Rajasthan desert in India, is hoping to accelerate its plans off the southern and western coasts of the Arctic province.

"There is very little data at the moment," said Cairn exploration director Mike Watts of the seismic testing taking place off Greenland. "But our supposition is that the geology is not dissimilar to the central North Sea." Chief executive Sir Bill Gammell said: "The suggestion is there is 50 billion barrels in the region. This is frontier, pioneering stuff. We are hoping to bring forward a drilling programme from 2011 to 2010."

Cairn's finds in India go into production this summer, with hopes that Rajasthan will be able to produce as much as 175,000 barrels a day for the next decade.

The group said cash balances at the end of 2008 stood at $898 million (£629 million), up from the previous year, helped by a $161 million share placing.