HAMBURG (The Thursday Times) — Argentina has asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to order Britain to suspend oil drilling off the Falkland Islands, at a two-day hearing that ended on Wednesday with each side accusing the other of using the case to fight over the islands’ sovereignty.
Buenos Aires wants provisional measures halting the Sea Lion project, about 130 miles north of the islands, until a wider arbitration over its rights is decided. Drilling is due to start in March, with oil extraction from 2028. The tribunal is expected to rule on November 28.
Two days in Hamburg
Ellie Reeves, the attorney general for England and Wales, told the tribunal that a suspension would kill the project, with “devastating consequences” for the islanders, who she said risked losing billions of pounds. She accused Argentina of pursuing its sovereignty claim through the back door and said the tribunal had no place settling that question.
Marcelo Kohen, a lawyer for Argentina, said the dispute did not turn the waters around the islands into a legal black hole. “We are not in the 17th century,” he told the panel. Argentina cites a 1976 UN resolution calling on both sides to avoid unilateral steps while the sovereignty dispute is unresolved. Britain says the resolution is not legally binding.
Mario Oyarzábal, the Argentine foreign ministry’s legal adviser, said the question before the tribunal was narrower: whether Britain could unilaterally authorise new drilling in a disputed area. He also argued that Argentina would bear the consequences of any blowout or spill. British lawyers said that risk was low and had been mitigated.
An oilfield worth billions to the islands
Sea Lion is led by the Israeli company Navitas and its British partner Rockhopper. It holds an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil and could produce for 35 years, potentially doubling the islands’ GDP per head, with a cumulative uplift of about £8bn over its lifetime.
Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, has called the project unlawful and imposed sanctions on people and companies involved in oil exploration around the islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas. Downing Street has said the hearing “is not about the sovereignty of the Falklands”.
Argentina invaded the islands in 1982. The 74-day war cost the lives of 649 Argentine and 255 British military personnel, and three islanders.
