Argentina has given the United Kingdom two weeks to halt activities on the Sea Lion oil drilling project near the Falkland Islands. If London fails to comply, Buenos Aires will seek interim measures from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea in Hamburg.
The decision was ordered by President Javier Milley. The Argentine presidency announced that it was launching an arbitration procedure under Annex VII of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea to block the exploitation of hydrocarbons in the North Malvinas Basin.
“Argentina will not stand idly by“, the presidency said, accusing the United Kingdom of causing “irreversible and irreparable“ harm.The Sea Lion project is being developed by Israel's Navitas Petroleum and Britain's Rockhopper Exploration. According to the EFE agency, the partners plan to start production in March 2028, and their licenses were renewed in September for another five years.
Buenos Aires refers to UN resolutions
The Argentine government claims that the unilateral exploitation of natural resources around the islands violates international law. In its official statement, it refers to UN General Assembly resolution 2065, which recognizes the existence of a sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom and calls on the two sides to negotiate.
Buenos Aires also cited resolution 31/49, which calls on the parties not to take unilateral actions that change the situation while the dispute continues. According to Argentina, oil extraction is such a change.
“Anyone who explores or exploits our natural resources in the Malvinas without Argentina's permission must bear the consequences”, Millay wrote, quoted by the Associated Press. He also warned earlier that companies operating around the islands could be restricted from participating in Argentina's oil and mining sectors.
Sovereignty dispute flares up again
The United Kingdom rejects Argentina's claims and defends the right of the Falkland Islanders to determine their own future and develop their natural resources. The islands have been under British rule since 1833, and in 2013, locals voted overwhelmingly to remain a British overseas territory.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea can issue legally binding interim orders, but there is no mechanism to force a country to comply with them, the Associated Press notes.
An Argentine court has already ordered a temporary halt to work on Sea Lion until an environmental assessment is carried out. The new procedure will take the dispute to the international level and could become another front in the ongoing conflict over sovereignty over the archipelago.
Sources: EFE