Argentina has asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, a judicial body which settles maritime disputes, to halt British-authorised oil activity near the Falkland Islands, escalating a sovereignty dispute over the archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean.
Buenos Aires said on Tuesday (13 October) that it had requested provisional measures to stop a major UK-Israeli offshore oil development project on the continental shelf of the Northern Falklands Basin.
Argentina said the activity was authorised “unilaterally and illegally.” Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said the aim was to prevent development of the Sea Lion oilfield from starting or continuing.
Speaking in Parliament, Uma Kumaran, a UK Foreign Office Minister, said legitimate commercial activity in the islands “remains lawful.” She said the UK would engage with the tribunal but would not give a running commentary.
Kumaran said the request was not a judgment by an international court and did not invalidate licences issued by the Falkland Islands government. The UK also announced legal measures to protect businesses from pressure to comply with Argentine domestic rules.
The field lies about 220km north of the Falkland Islands. Israeli oil firm Navitas Petroleum holds a 65 per cent share in the development and UK’s Rockhopper Exploration holds the remaining 35 per cent. The field is expected to start producing its first oil in 2028.
Argentine President Javier Milei ordered arbitration against the UK under the United Nation Convention on the Law of the Sea on 28 September, and set a two-week deadline for London to respond. The tribunal can prescribe provisional measures while arbitration is being set up, but only if it finds it would have sufficient basis to hear a case and that the matter is urgent.
Such interim measures would not settle the sovereignty dispute.
In September, Milei’s government also presented legislation to toughen penalties for firms operating in the islands without Argentine permission. It has yet to be approved by the country’s Congress.
Britain has controlled the islands, known in Argentina as Las Malvinas, since 1833. Argentina says the archipelago, which sits 480 kilometres east of the country’s southern Patagonian coast, was wrongly taken from it in the 19th Century.
In 1982, Argentina invaded, sparking a 74-day war that Britain won. About 650 Argentines and 255 Britons died. In a 2013 referendum, islanders voted by 1,513 to three to remain a UK overseas territory on a 92 per cent turnout. London has said it will not discuss sovereignty unless the islanders ask it to.
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