Recent announcements from Rockhopper PLC and Premier Oil have triggered a reaction from the Argentine foreign ministry.
The announcements relate to referred to Project Sea Lion. The overall strategy to develop and extract oil from the North Falkland Basin remains a phased development solution, referred to as ‘Sea Lion’.
According to Rockhopper’s website:
“Sea Lion has the potential to be transformational for Rockhopper and the Falkland Islands as a whole. The project is at a mature stage of definition and has been substantially de-risked from a technical, cost and schedule perspective. Securing funding is the last remaining major milestone before Sea Lion can reach and all efforts are focused on securing such financing to allow the project to move into the execution phase.”
According to local media here, the Argentine Foreign Ministry claims that the two firms are “operating in the continental platform close to the Malvinas Islands, without the authorization of the Argentine government”.
“The Malvinas, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands, and the surrounding maritime spaces are an integral part of the Argentine national territory and the object of a sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom, which has been recognized by Resolution 2065 from the United Nations General Assembly.
Thus the Argentine government calls on these companies and other companies to abstain from financing or participating in such activities which are subject to legal administrative and judicial actions under Argentine Law.”
Operations are continuing.
When are they going to get the message? The Falklands are ours. Enough of our brave chaps shed claret to ensure that was the case, a few years ago.
Indeed. BTW one of us need to change their username! I will for my next post.
Test
Top jingoism Rob, “ours” ???? Its only “ours” because that’s what the Falkland islanders want, not because of spilt blood, either British or Argentinian.
This is just the Argentinian government doing what they have to do to play to the gallery at home, to do anything else would draw criticism. They know that nobody else will give a toss, well nobody that matter, maybe some online posters will work themselves up right enough…..
Basically, slow news day, nothing to see hear, move along….
Agree Corbyn is a huge danger to the armed forces, British territories and our ability to live in a safe protected country, under our nuclear deterrents protective umbrella. Argentina can get stuffed. The Falklands have been British territory for 160+ years, except for an illegal hostile invasion in 1982 lasting a few months, before said illegal occupiers were chucked out. There was a referendum 6+ years ago, won by unanimous vote for the resident Falklanders to remain British. Argentina claims the results dont matter as they are illegal occupiers. Really? Illegal occupiers for 160+ years, generations upon generations of Falklanders… Read more »
No Andy, it is ours because our claim to the islands predates Argentina’s existence. The only other two countries who could try to claim them is France and Spain, which neither have ever done so.
if im not mistaken Malvinas is a french name. and we were colonizing the Falklands before Argentina existed and especially Patagonia which chili have a dispute over. the other arggy bull sh** is they where Spanish so that makes them there’s. so were a lot of other things Spanish so that’s sh**. I think its just the conquistadors trying to deflect from there own hypocrisy
As the Falkland islands are a British overseas territory and the rigs are operating in B.O.T waters, the Argentine government has no say as to what happens, therefore their sabre rattling should cease with immediate effect.
As most on here know, Argentina’s sabre rattling is linked to its economy.
They have an Election on the 27th, where recent poles show that Macri will likely lose, this has plunged the Peso to a record low.
Macri will lose, and that will propel Kirchner – the arch-Malvinas battleaxe – back into prominence. Oh, and Argentina have gone back in the direction of rearming. Expect this situation to get more tense, not less
I’m always aware of cultural mindsets when making judgements.
Argentinian children have it instilled into them that the Falklands are occupied Argentine Islands/lands, a practice which we know to have been prevalent, in the darker side of world history.
At some point, we have to let go of confrontational land disputes that have settled societies, regardless of their geographical position, in favour of respective autonomous governance: The Caribbean Archipelago, Channel Islands…and to some degree, Welsh Speaking Chubut!
Sadly, history reminds us of the horrendous costs of such disputes: Alsace-Lorraine, Sudetenland…
Quite right, people matter; but it will be a hard pill for some to swallow. Maybe these places can have the status now accorded to other protected minorities instead of accusing them of being colonial settlers.
What no one seems to appreciate is that th should southern half of Argentina is of course an area of colonial settlement it was as good as unpopulated and certainly not by anyone as do uratelyurately with the original Spanish colony or even the thereafter rapidly expanding independent state of Argentina. They even paid the Welsh to colonise the land that they were not at all interested in or willing to physically occupy in anything but unsubstantiated claim beyond some mecieval Pope with no authority to grant them anything. So their claim to the Falklands is based on its locality… Read more »
The Channel Islands are not part of the UK, and they have their own governments.
They did the same thing last time round regarding fishing licenses, which are controlled by the Falkland Islands Governement. Saying the waters are theirs and we’re stealing their revenues. I think a few South American countries lean in their direction, but not the ones that matter.
Levi…see my post above. A reminder to Argentina, they are going to have to massively rearm. Astute, type 45 destroyer, sea captor, QE class carriers, F35B, phalanx, Typhoon. Tomahawk, storm shadow, brimstone. They are going to have to be going some to defeat that lot. Besides we can easily crash deploy a squadron of typhoon and a parachute battalion down there to mount pleasant airbase. The RAF has the 3rd most capable strategic airlift capability in the world. If Kirchner , the poisoned witch of south america, comes back into power, and I hope she does, as her record of… Read more »
Shock horror, predictive typing…Poles for Polls…not that we suffer from pedants on this site, thank god.
Andy, I think that’s a bit rough on a proud country and historically a friend of Britain, with the exception of the Falkland War that is! They pose no military threat at this time, so this dispute needs to be resolved in the courts. I can not foresee the Argentine military rising to the 1980’s strength anytime soon? Our bases on the Falklands will continue to act as a deterrent against any further adventurism.
Britain was one of Argentina’s biggest investors before the War, then they pick a fight with us, idiots.
Corned Beef was off the Royal Menu even!
Argentina was for a long time effectively a colony after we helped them gain independence. Even up to inter war it was by far the richest country in South America and with incredible growth and then predictably went off a cliff as the desire for self running with associated corruption took hold. The rest is history. Interestingly heard an Argentinain lamenting the nationalisation of the railways that were British built and run until then. They barely run at all now with barely any rolling stock, while it seems we were brilliant at running other people’s railways with efficiency we seem… Read more »
Good old Fray Bentos is from Uraguay….so HM could have had a delicate slice with some crackers & Branston pickle!
Herodotus
I think they opted for Spam, or was it Spam? Not sure, but it could have even been Spam.
But then again…
Well, with all this austerity one has to tighten one’s belt! Doesn’t one?
Many Brits during WW2 developed a taste for Spam, they did not have much choice either.
What about Brazilian, or Paraguayan Beef?
Based on illeterate nature of your comments I’m not sure you can accuse anyone of having a low IQ…
Your comment was literally a cheap petty slur. Your service in the Falklands is admirable in what was by all account a brutal war. No I didn’t serve as I wasn’t yet born, and you’re equally right I haven’t served and instead work in the defence sector, though cousin is active army and father retired RAF so I grew up in a military setting. I regularly comment with informed input based on my understanding from the field I work, and have had many heated well informed debates with the likes of Daniel. Yes I made a cheap shot, but your… Read more »
Robert1, I wouldn’t bother trying to justify yourself mate, let’s just say that we’re not all deep thinkers on here…..
They will not cease. As it just keeps the issue on the agenda, which is what they want.
Daniele, it’s not going to work for them. Eventually they might realise that extending the hand of friendship to the Islanders would provide better results not to mention financial benefits.
I agree Mark.
Damn common sense again – my bad. How about Labour win general election – most of South America moves to Watford under President Jeremy’s open borders act. Falkland Islanders take the the rest of the continent in the name of King William with the blessing of Queen Elizabeth the King granny who has got bored of the whole thing. Too silly?
Well nothing is impossible but the chances of Labour winning anything seem remote as things stand so I would relax.
With the state their economy is in maybe the Falkland Islands should make a bid to buy Argentina with the revenue!!
Oil, about as popular an issue as religion to wage hostilities, the defensive set up now is that they can rattle their emty scabbards all they like, they don’t have the means to wage another conflict and I don’t think the population as a whole in Argentina have the stomach for it. Just ignore them.
Plus we have Tomahawks now!
And carriers! Three of them!
(Including the island)
Each of those oil firms probably has a higher GDP than Argentina anyway. Who would listen to that paper tiger (actually having said tiger, it’s more like a pussy cat)?
I watched this a few years ago and a prominent MP at the time said exactly what we all say here, but also that this is only wrangeling to get a payment, which is what the company and both Goverments will sort out once oil is found and can be extracted.
Any payments to Argentina would surely be legitimising their claim of sovereignty over the Islands?
Ian hopefully not. But you know how all all this works. They might pay an really big fee to use there ports on the mainland.
Which would be political suicide for any incumbent leadership?
They were offered joint exploration and exploitation but that of course was not good enough for them. They want the lot and then exercise rights to large parts of Antartica too to exploit. Never ending with such small self rightuous countries with big ambitions.
Andy R, I take it you’ve not seen the news today
Why are you shouting?
Andy has a tendency to shout a lot, pretty certain he constantly has caps lock on because when types something that you could type out in capitals as if you were shouting he types it in lower case letters.
Ah! ?
Know how you feel Andy…I suffer from the same condition. The Doc says that it is all down to age!
As a Rockhopper shareholder since before oil was discovered, this is reheated slop. Kirchener’s husband ripped up a sensible deal negotiated by his predessesor.
The real value for the Argentinian comment lies in the landing and onshore processing of the oil, and they have cut their nose off to spite their face. Instead the oil will be shuttled to market in other countries.
Yes Bob exactly. The info that I have, from colleagues in the exploration industry, is that the oil price would have to rise significantly in order for it to be profitable. There just isn’t the infrastructure necessary in the Falklands to make it an economic or practical reality. However, with Argentina on board it could be very profitable. But then, Argentina’s economy is booming, is it not?
I just don’t ‘get’ Argentina. Maybe they are running late; 100 years late. It’s a country with huge potential but just doesn’t seem to get down and make it all work. Very Sad, although things do seem to be improving.
Actually Argentina 100 years ago was a wealthy booming country, in fact up to middle of last century it was one of the worlds leading economies, it’s currency was one of the most traded in the world. Its a fine example of how even a leading economy if mismanaged can become a 3rd world economy.
Yes, in fact it was part of the informal Empire (according to the Robinson Gallagher thesis)….to our considerable mutual benefit. The British Army marched on Argentinian beef!
It doesn’t need to rise much. The break even is less than $45 per barrel. The FPSO production in 2-3 phases is actually very cheap to develop but international standards, and they are using the develpement of Catcher in the North Sea as a template. Catcher is BANGING out oil and came in under budget significantly. Falklands crude is heavier thatn brent and may be worth a premium as the world lacks heavier grades for refining (shale oil is too light for most US refineries to process without mixing with heavy, and Venezuela is off the guest list at the… Read more »
Trouble is, what goes up…can come down….and given the lengthy logistics, would be something of a gamble. But then that is the oil business!
To be honest sabre rattling by the Argentines is always going to be there. The irony is that they say they want decolonisation of the Falklands by the British. My question to the Argentines is when will you return to Spain, Italy and Wales which is your own native homes – if you want to go down the route of colonisation blame? The Falklands were never settled until the British arrived…ignoring any transitory French and Spanish sailors…I mean the whole Malvinas is just garbage if you look at the history it was only ever colonised by the British and having… Read more »
Too right re: the need to delve into the history of the islands. If proximity is 100% of the claim, then my next door neighbour’s shed is mine, as he never goes in it and it is nearer my back garden than his house.
However, “that means sorting out the UN” – fat chance. The whole system is set up so that there can be NO real resolutions. Most arguments are circular and lack any logically significant truths. A decisions are made based on self serving values of the permanent members of the security council.
Or if you’re Chinese, ignore the World Court and take what you think should be yours as you have a bigger stick.
The Falkland islanders have offered some remuneration for the defence of the Islands from the oil revenues as I understand, there’s a sizeable base down their now so any contribution to the UK defence budget would be welcome. Perhaps they wouldn’t mind funding an extra T31 or two and a few more typhoon to keep the lines running a bit longer 🙂
Good idea expat, I think the Falklanders should pay a few billion a year into uk MOD funds. Typhoons, a few more astutes, a couple more type 31s or better still type 26s. All very much needed.
Not sure they’re proposing anything on that scale but if they would pay for what is stationed down there and up keep of the facilities that would help. I would think it would be better to have a T31 station down their rather than an OPV.
They pay for the FIDF I believe?
Don’t forget peeps, in the last Century lots of bods from Wales emigrated there. crumbs they still speak and sing in Welsh in some places. Some native Argentinians prefer to send their kids to Welsh schools there as they are better.
However, the whole right-wing junta/Malvinas wahtsmaduggle thing is outrageous. Again some bad people in what could be a great Nation. if only they would work with us and we all appreciate our shared heritage.
The demise of their military dictatorship was direclty related to the Falklands defeat. They are in our debt.
It all seems a bit of nothing, from what i understand there are serious questions about whether the oil is actually economical to extract.
The oil is marginal and viability is high risk… Hence the need to yet secure funding. Once developed o will be viable. Any subsequent Gas will be stranded and would need a deal with Argentina. One of the major costs is the devolopment drilling. While oil price is moderate then drling costs will be lower as rig contractors compete. An upward shift in oil prices would see drilling / development services costs easily spiral upwards by several hundred thousand $ a day over a 2 to 3 year development period. Brave investor would sanction now… Develop over next few years… Read more »
They’ve been talking about Falklands oil for nigh on 40 years and things don’t seem to have progressed much from then. Given that the future is predicted to be away from carbon fuels one wonders if the FI Oil will ever come out of the ground.
Away from fossil fuels as direct energy yesl but heavier crudes will have a long demand tail in providing base products for lubricants and nylon / heavy duty plastics and composit materials etc.
Thanks for info Pete. I should imagine the South Atlantic is as harsh an environment as the north sea-if not harsher! Also logistics and infrastructure in FI would need some serious input so price will be the big factor
I’m no expert on this so forgive me if I’ve missed something but apart from the distance to the mainland, Shetland is a small set of islands heavily involved in Oil & Gas and they do well out of it. Sullom Voe was set up in the 70’s so I’m guessing there might have been advances that would negate the need for a site on the mainland.
I’m just spitballing so its maybe not feasible. It would certainly make FI more attractive to Argentina if its making gazillions out of oil.
Hi Andy. Good points. The main problem is that hostile Argentina will have no part in it. Whilst Oil obviously makes the “Malvinas” more attractive, they want them even without any monetary prize. I think that North Sea Oil is nearer to market and has huge infrastructure now in Scotland to support exploration and transport. The FI would certainly need a dedicated structure which does not exist there at present. But again, I am no expert either. Cheers
I think it comes down to the price of a barrel of oil Geoff, South and Central America are on the doorstep and North America isn’t that far, I guess it would come down to if its doable without direct industry support from the mainland, at least the Argentinian bit.
The Malvinas are a bit of a political football in Argentina, its a rallying call so aye, even if there was no tangible benefits to gaining it, just national pride and that can be a large motivator.
they have only been encouraging Welsh speakers because of tourism
Perhaps they’d like to send their court bailiffs to enforce whatever order Argentine courts deem appropriate?
Is there not an opportunity for the oil companies to do a joint venture with Argentine companies? Jobs, revenue and profits could be shared. Win Win.
Why does everything have to be a zero sum game?
Richard B,
What what what ! A shared venture…. Share the wealth… that will never catch on. We’re a bunch of wee separate groups, not a whole planet that could work together.
In fairness, you’re not the mad one, its me. Thinking that we should work together.
Perfect location for F35 carrier testing and submarine missile drills. Charming neighbors too I might add.