The Argentine government is seeking to halt the Sea Lion project, led by Israeli oil company Navitas.
On Tuesday, Argentina asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to order measures against the project led by Israeli oil company Navitas in the Malvinas Islands, which are administered by the United Kingdom and claimed by the South American country.
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“The Argentine Republic today submitted a request for provisional measures to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to prevent the United Kingdom from exploiting hydrocarbons on the continental shelf of the North Malvinas Basin,” the Argentine presidency posted on social media.
“The request submitted to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea seeks to preserve Argentina’s sovereign rights over its continental shelf and prevent activities unilaterally and illegally authorized by the United Kingdom from aggravating the dispute recognized by the United Nations.”
“The Argentine Republic reaffirms, once again, its legitimate and imprescriptible sovereign rights over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, and the surrounding maritime areas. By history and by law: the Malvinas Islands are Argentine,” the presidential statement concluded.
UK WARNS ARGENTINA it will use ‘FORCE’ to DEFEND FALKLANDS (Malvinas) ‘IF NECESSARY’
Says Britain has ‘ABILITY’ to defend Islands ‘BY FORCE’
‘The Argentinians LACK ABILITY to TAKE Falkland Islands’ pic.twitter.com/q4geEzxkzD
— RT (@RT_com) September 26, 2026
On Sept. 28, Argentine President Javier Milei announced that he would initiate a request for arbitration based on the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), a 1982 treaty whose dispute-resolution body is the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, based in Hamburg, Germany.
Argentina’s goal is to halt the progress of Sea Lion, an offshore project operated by Navitas (65%) and British company Rockhopper (35%) to begin extracting crude oil in 2028 in the North Malvinas Basin, 200 kilometers north of the archipelago.
Argentina considers the permits granted to the oil companies by the islands’ local government “illegal.” When announcing that it would initiate the request for international arbitration, Argentina gave the United Kingdom two weeks to take measures to stop the project.
One day later, British Parliamentary Undersecretary of State for the Overseas Territories Uma Kumaran responded that Argentina’s arbitration effort was the South American country’s “latest attempt” to “undermine the rights of the people” of the Malvinas Islands, which have been occupied by the UK since 1833, when British forces expelled Argentine authorities from the islands.
According to Kumaran, hydrocarbon activities in the Malvinas Islands are regulated by the islands’ laws and “are conducted in full compliance with international law, including UNCLOS.”
MARINES ESTADOUNIDENSES REALIZARON EN USHUAIA EJERCICIOS CON TROPAS ARGENTINAS
🚩https://t.co/3EOcbmaW1T
Solo un gobierno que desprecia la lucha de su pueblo y a los muertos por la Patria en 1982, permite el ingreso de militares del principal socio del usurpador de Malvinas. pic.twitter.com/H6Cf3PbKJG— AgendaMalvinasOK (@Agenda_Malvinas) August 27, 2025
The text reads, “U.S. Marines conducted exercises with Argentine troops in Ushuaia. Only a government that disdains its people’s struggle and those who died for the Fatherland in 1982 would allow the entry of military personnel from the principal partner of the usurper of the Malvinas.”
Argentina’s Foreign Ministry denied that it was seeking to “undermine” anyone’s rights, arguing instead that submitting a dispute to an international tribunal is an act of responsibility because differences are not resolved through unilateral actions, “but before judges who apply the law that both parties have freely accepted.”
The United Kingdom and Argentina, which fought a war over the Malvinas Islands in 1982, are both parties to UNCLOS.
Since Milei announced a series of measures on Aug. 3 aimed at curbing oil activity in the Malvinas Islands, Argentina has initiated administrative proceedings and filed lawsuits in domestic courts against the companies operating on the islands and their shareholders.
It has also sent dozens of letters to oil companies around the world seeking to dissuade them from operating in the archipelago or supplying the projects there.
So far, Argentina has succeeded in getting some global oil services companies with significant business interests in the South American country to publicly state that they will not operate in the Malvinas Islands, including contractors that were set to take part in the Sea Lion project.
Last week, Navitas and Rockhopper, whose shares have fallen in recent weeks, said they would replace two contractors and continue moving forward with Sea Lion “with the full support” of the Malvinas Islands and British governments.
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
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