Key facts
- Sam Moody said Argentina wrote to him and Rockhopper's finance chief on September 1, 2026, threatening prosecution, imprisonment and fines.
- Moody said in his witness statement he had repeatedly been under threat of criminal prosecution and a custodial sentence in Argentina.
- Argentina banned Navitas, an Israeli partner in Sea Lion, from operating in the country for 20 years, Moody's submission said.
- Argentinian officials wrote to Standard Chartered's Port Stanley branch urging it to refrain from Falkland Islands oil and gas development.
- Navitas and Rockhopper withheld contractor names from court documents, Ian Ramsay said, citing possible Argentinian retribution.
- The UK argued at the tribunal that it lacked jurisdiction and that the cited UN resolution was not legally binding.
Argentina's government threatened Sam Moody, chief executive of Rockhopper Exploration, and the company's chief financial officer with criminal prosecution, imprisonment and fines under its domestic legislation, according to a witness statement Moody submitted to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The Guardian reported the disclosure after the sealed document was made available on application; the UK submitted the statement before two days of hearings held in the week of November 9, 2026.
Moody said the correspondence arrived as Buenos Aires increased pressure over the British overseas territory, and that Argentina wrote to him and the finance chief personally on September 1, 2026. In his statement he said he believed there was a risk in engaging with the Hamburg hearing, writing that he had "repeatedly been under threat of criminal prosecution and a custodial sentence in Argentina."
Argentina is seeking an order suspending drilling at the Sea Lion offshore oil project north of the Falklands, led by Rockhopper and Navitas, an Israeli company. Moody's submission listed other Argentine actions he said made financing Sea Lion harder, including a 20-year ban on Navitas operating in the country. Argentinian officials also wrote to Standard Chartered's branch in Port Stanley, the Falklands capital, urging it to "refrain from participating in oil and gas development in the Falkland Islands to avoid falling within the terms of certain Argentine domestic legislation."
A separate submission by Ian Ramsay, chief executive of Navitas Petroleum Development and Production, said the contractors engaged by Navitas UK were not named in court documents to preserve confidentiality given Argentine scrutiny and efforts to frustrate the project. The US firm Halliburton said in a statement it would not conduct any work on Sea Lion after discussions with Argentina. The Guardian reported last month that the UK government had written to Interpol seeking reassurance it would not act on Argentinian red notices seeking arrests over involvement in the Falklands economy.