After fuelling hopes of independence from Denmark at the turn of the millennium, the Faroe Islands' dreams of an oil bonanza have turned out to be more of a mirage than a miracle.
French oil giant Total said Monday that it would buy Maersk Oil, a unit of Danish shipping giant A.P. Moller-Maersk, for $7.45 billion (6.35 billion euros).
The Faroe Islands, a Danish autonomous territory, will resume its search for oil soon, launching the fourth licensing round for exploration since 2000 and the first since 2008.
Denmark has plans to be fossil-fuel free by 2050 but until then it is going to suck every possible drop of oil out of the North Sea, the climate minister said.
Dropping oil prices cause Denmark to slip into a recession but economists stress that it is "good news for the Danish economy" and not a sign that the nation is "about to be caught in a vicious deflationary spiral".
The Danish government on Thursday slashed its growth outlook for this year and the next, citing weak eurozone demand for exports and stagnant household spending.
The Danish government's 2015 budget calculations are built upon the ability to sell North Sea oil at $110 a barrel, but oil prices have fallen below $70 a barrel and economists warn of a massive budget deficit.
