Argentina urges ITLOS to halt UK-backed Falklands oil project

An Argentine legal team told the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in Hamburg that the United Kingdom’s approval of the Sea Lion oil project in the North Falkland basin deepens the long-standing sovereignty dispute over the islands. The team, led by Javier Oyarzábal, chief legal adviser to Argentina’s foreign ministry, urged the tribunal to order a provisional suspension of drilling.

"[Argentina] respects the interests of the inhabitants of the islands and their way of life as enshrined in the Argentine constitution … What these British citizens do not have is a right to decide to which state the islands belong … These resources belong to the Argentine people," Oyarzábal said, adding that the project would finance the British military presence on the islands.

The Sea Lion project, developed by Israeli firm Navitas and British partner Rockhopper, is projected to triple the Falklands’ GDP per capita and is promoted locally as a way to secure an economic future and fund a sovereign wealth fund. Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, has called the project unlawful and filed for arbitration, citing a 1976 UN resolution that calls for both parties to refrain from unilateral actions until the sovereignty question is settled.

Argentina is seeking urgent provisional measures, including a UK commitment to stop drilling, arguing that the project could cause an environmental disaster that would affect Argentina’s coastline and complicate peaceful resolution of the dispute.

The UK’s attorney general, Ellie Reeves, attended the hearing and said the tribunal is not the appropriate forum for determining sovereignty, while expressing respect for the court’s institutions. The two-day hearing marks the first time substantive Falklands matters have been litigated before an international tribunal.