Argentina Vows to Block Falklands Offshore Oil, Raising Tensions With UK
Daniel Boffey
Argentine Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said his government will block the Falkland Islands from extracting offshore oil as part of a peaceful strategy to assert sovereignty over the disputed archipelago. He criticized Britain for refusing negotiations and for backing a major offshore oil project, as the British ambassador looked on.
Speaking at an event organized by the Argentine Council on Foreign Relations in Buenos Aires, Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno announced that his government will prevent the Falkland Islands from extracting offshore oil, as part of a strategy to secure sovereignty over the disputed archipelago.
Quirno criticized the British government for refusing to open negotiations over the islands and for facilitating a major offshore oil project in the islands' waters. Among the audience at the event was the British ambassador to Argentina, David Cairns. Cairns was photographed listening to the speech and left the event shortly after Quirno returned to his seat.
Quirno said President Javier Milei has a strategy to assert Argentina's sovereignty by "peaceful" means. "The British government not only refuses to negotiate to resolve the sovereignty dispute, but also takes unilateral measures related to the exploitation of natural resources in the disputed waters," he said. "Blocking the extraction of our resources to consolidate the British occupation is part of the strategy to restore, through peaceful means, the full exercise of our sovereignty."
Last month, at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Milei said the international body had failed Argentina, and condemned the Sea Lion project — an oil and gas development in the North Falkland Basin — as an "illegal act."
Argentina accuses Britain of violating a 1976 UN resolution calling on both sides to refrain from unilateral actions in the islands. On September 28, Milei set a two-week deadline for Britain to halt the oil project, failing which it would face arbitration and a binding ruling under Annex VII of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.
The United Nations does not formally recognize the sovereignty of either Britain or Argentina, and maintains that the status of the islands remains a disputed issue to be resolved through bilateral negotiations. It has repeatedly called on the two governments to find a peaceful solution to the dispute, which erupted into conflict in 1982 after Argentine forces landed on the islands.
The 74-day war ended with the surrender of Argentine forces, leaving 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders dead.
The British government insists the islands — known in Argentina as Las Malvinas, with about 3,600 residents — will remain a British overseas territory as long as the people there wish it so. In a 2013 referendum with a 92 percent turnout, 99.8 percent voted to remain a British territory, with only three votes against.
In a statement last week, the Argentine government rejected "the abuse of the principle of self-determination of peoples that the United Kingdom seeks to impose." On Monday evening, Quirno also warned third parties against supporting the Falkland Islanders in exploiting natural resources.
A new shipping route between Chile and the Falkland Islands is expected to open late this year. Quirno said: "Anyone who contributes, directly or indirectly, to the illegal exploration or exploitation of resources that belong to all Argentines can hardly expect to share in the benefits of our country's growth."
