Argentina says Britain must halt the Sea Lion oilfield project or face international arbitration.
President Javier Milei set a two‑week deadline in a social media post, demanding the joint venture of Israeli firm Navitas Petroleum and British company Rockhopper Exploration be scrapped. The UK claims licences are valid, but Argentina views the venture as an illegal plundering of its resources off the Falkland Islands, known locally as Las Malvinas.
If the deadline passes, Milei has instructed the Foreign Ministry and legal teams to initiate international arbitration against the UK over the Sea Lion Project. He has also warned that the matter will be brought before the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, an independent judicial body based in Hamburg tasked with applying the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The dispute reflects a long‑standing sovereignty conflict that dates back to the 1982 war when the British military ousted Argentine forces from the islands. A 2013 referendum on the islands’ status saw 99.8% voting to remain a British overseas territory, a fact that fuels the Argentine claim that the venture violates their sovereign rights.
Despite the British government's position that the Sea Lion field—estimated at 1.7 billion barrels of oil—holds valid licences, Argentine officials have called the venture a “clear and present danger.” They warn that any swift exploitation could jeopardise the safety and environmental security of the surrounding waters.
