Key facts
- Argentina's President Javier Milei has threatened legal action against the UK over oil exploration near the Falkland Islands.
- Milei set a two-week deadline for the Sea Lion oilfield project to be scrapped.
- Argentina plans to take the matter before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea if the "illegitimate exploitation" does not end.
- The Sea Lion oilfield contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil.
- Britain's Rockhopper Exploration and Israel's Navitas Petroleum are due to begin extracting from the oilfield within two years.
- Residents of the Falkland Islands voted overwhelmingly in a 2013 referendum to remain a British overseas territory.
Argentina's President Javier Milei has threatened to initiate international arbitration against the British government if it does not halt oil exploration work off the coast of the Falkland Islands. Milei issued a two-week deadline for the Sea Lion oilfield project, a joint venture between British and Israeli companies, to be abandoned.
In a social media post, Milei stated that if the deadline was not met, he had "instructed the Foreign Ministry and legal teams to initiate international arbitration" against the UK for what he termed "the illegal plundering of our resources through the Sea Lion Project." He warned that Argentina would take the matter before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, an independent judicial body responsible for applying the UN's Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The comments escalate tensions between the UK and Argentina over the sovereignty of the archipelago, known as Las Malvinas in Argentina, which followed a 1982 war. The Sea Lion oilfield, located approximately 130 miles from the Falkland Islands, is estimated to hold 1.7 billion barrels of oil. Britain's Rockhopper Exploration and Israel's Navitas Petroleum are expected to commence extraction within two years, asserting they hold valid licenses issued by Britain.
Milei has previously described the Sea Lion oilfield as a "clear and present danger." His recent criticism of the UN as a "useless organisation" came shortly after his speech at the General Assembly, where he also addressed the Falkland Islands' sovereignty. The UK Defence Secretary, Wes Streeting, has stated that Argentina "lacks the ability" to reclaim the islands by force.