Argentina Sues 3 UK Oil Companies Exploring Malvinas Waters

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A platform looking for oil around the Malvinas Islands | Photo: Reuters

The oil companies are violating Argentine law by carrying out exploration efforts without permission from the state, Argentina claims.

Argentine Minister of Malvinas informed Friday that an Argentine judge will soon open the prosecution against three UK-based oil companies conducting exploratory activities in the Malvinas Islands, and possibly two others from the U.S.

The Argentine government has stated that foreign companies are violating Argentine law by carrying out exploration efforts without permission from the state.

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“The Malvinas Islands Government (MIG) fails to see how drilling is in any way a provocation,” justified Daniel Filmus in a press conference in London.

“We have the right to develop our economy, including the hydrocarbons industry, and we are exercising that right,” he added. “Exploration drilling has been happening in Falkland Islands waters for many years.”

“It is worth remembering that it was the Government of Argentina who walked away from working with the Malvinas Islands on the development of a hydrocarbons industry some years ago.”

The three companies facing judicial prosecutions are Premier Oil, Falkland Oil and Gas, and Rockhopper, and had announced earlier in March they had discovered oil and gas in an offshore area north of the Malvinas Islands.

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond replied to the declarations in an interview with Sky News, “It is an outrageous piece of bullying and threatening against the Falkland Islanders’ perfect right to develop their own economic resources and Argentina needs to stop this kind of behavior and start acting like a responsible member of the international community.”

The government's new judicial offensive coincides with the 33 year anniversary marking the beginning of the war between Argentina and the U.K. over the sovereignty of the British-occupied Malvinas Islands, which the British refer to as the Falklands.

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Late March, the Argentine government urged the UK to return to the negotiating table over the Malvinas Islands in response to a planned “beef up” of its military presence on the disputed islands.
“The Argentine government reiterates that dialogue and negotiation, not weapons, are the only way to resolve the issue,” Argentina's foreign ministry said in a statement.

The ministry described the “growing militarization” of the disputed islands as “absolutely unjustifiable.”

The statement was in response to a planned US$417 million increase in funding to military installations on the islands. UK Defense Minister Michael Fallon first suggested boosting the military presence on the islands in an interview with the BBC. Fallon claimed Argentina's rumored plans to obtain 12 long range bombers from Russia posed a “threat” to the islands that the UK must “respond” to.

Source: teleSUR

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