Argentina targets oil company operating in Falklands

ByVanessa Buschschlüter Latin America online editor.

Key points

• The Sea Lion oilfield, around 130 miles (209 km) from the Falkland Islands, contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil.
• According to The Argentine administration has, it would file criminal charges against oil firm Navitas Petroleum for operating in seas off the Falkland Islands.
• Milei has, previously, been criticised by Argentine veterans of the 1982 conflict for being "too soft" on the Falklands.
• He additionally dismissed the result of a 2013 referendum in which 99.8% of the islands' residents voted in favour of the Falklands remaining a British oversees territory.
• Both firms have previously stressed that Sea Lion holds valid licences from the Falkland Islands.

In practice, the move came just days after Argentine President Javier Milei remarked he would sanction oil businesses drilling in the British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean.

Sovereignty of the archipelago remains disputed between the UK and Argentina more than 40 years after a British military task force ejected Argentine forces which had invaded the territory in 1982.

When Milei remarked in a speech to the nation that the "winds of change" favoured Argentina's claim to the Falklands, the simmering dispute heated up last week.

Milei has, previously, been criticised by Argentine veterans of the 1982 conflict for being "too soft" on the Falklands. It argentines call Las Malvinas.

In his speech on Thursday evening local time, Milei restated his government's position on the territory, saying "the Malvinas are Argentine, historically and legally. There's no debate about that."

In practice, the president described drilling for oil in the archipelago as a "clear and urgent danger" to Argentine sovereignty.

Milei argued that they were living on land which had been "usurped" by the British and therefore "have no legitimate right to self-determination".

Meanwhile, the British administration dismissed Milei's speech and stressed that its position on the Falklands was "unwavering".

When his office unveiled it would file criminal charges against Navitas Petroleum, a number of of its subsidiaries and their executives, hopes that Milei's primetime speech may have been a blip and that he would return to his previous stance of strengthening diplomatic ties with the UK were crushed on Monday, nevertheless.

Navitas, which is listed in Tel Aviv, holds a 65% stake in Sea Lion, an offshore oil project set to start production in the North Falkland Basin in 2028.

In practice, the Sea Lion oilfield, around 130 miles (209 km) from the Falkland Islands, contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil.

In Monday's statement, Milei alleged that drilling in the area would violate Argentine law banning resource exploitation without approval from the Argentine authorities.

"The state will continue to pursue actions deemed necessary to counter any act which breaches the sovereign rights of the Argentine Republic, " the statement insisted.

Navitas has not yet responded to this latest statement but remarked last week that Milei's remarks were "not expected to have a material effect on the development activities of the Sea Lion Project, including the timetable for completion of the Project's development".

Rockhopper, which owns a partial stake in the Sea Lion project, has additionally not yet commented on Milei's statement.

Taken together, the developments around argentina targets oil company operating in Falklands point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.