Argentina to file criminal case against oil company operating in Falklands

Image source, REUTERS/Mariana NedelcuImage caption, Argentine President Javier Milei said that oil companies drilling off the Falklands would face sanctions

The Argentine government has said that it will file criminal charges against oil company Navitas Petroleum for operating in seas off the Falkland Islands.

The move came just days after Argentine President Javier Milei said he would sanction oil companies drilling in the British overseas territory in the south-west Atlantic Ocean.

Reacting to the news, Foreign Office Minister Kirsty McNeill insisted that there could be "no doubt" about the British government's commitment to the Falkland Islanders.

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.

Speaking in the House of Commons on Tuesday, McNeill said that "the decision by the Falkland Islands government to pursue hydrocarbon production is a commercial decision for them to take alongside the commercial companies involved".

She added that "the future of the Falkland Islands is for Falkland Islanders to determine".

The simmering dispute between Britain and Argentina over the Falklands heated up last week, when Milei said in a speech to the nation that the "winds of change" favoured Argentina's claim to the islands.

Milei has, in the past, been criticised by Argentine veterans of the 1982 conflict for being "too soft" on the Falklands, which 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."

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

He also 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.

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

The British government dismissed Milei's speech and stressed that its position on the Falklands was "unwavering".

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, however, when his office announced it would file criminal charges against Navitas Petroleum, several of its subsidiaries and their executives.

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.

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 said 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 also not yet commented on Milei's statement.

Both companies have in the past stressed that Sea Lion holds valid licences from the Falkland Islands.

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