Argentina to blockade Falkland waters in dispute over oil rights

[Letsbereal]

Argentina to blockade Falkland waters in dispute over oil rights
17 February 2010, by Hannah Strange in Caracas and Frank Pope in Stanley (TimesOnline)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7029609.ece

Argentina has declared that it is taking control over all shipping between its coast and the Falklands, in effect awarding itself the power to blockade the disputed islands.

According to a decree issued by President Kirchner last night, all ships sailing through the waters claimed by Argentina must hold a permit. The measure seems likely to deepen a row over conflicting claims to oil beds lying inside the Falkland Islands’ territorial waters.

Argentina still claims sovereignty over the islands it calls “Las Malvinas” nearly three decades after the end of the Falklands conflict in which more than 1,000 people died. Tensions over the islands remained buried until the discovery of potentially rich energy reserves in the Falklands’ seabed. Argentina protested to Britain this month over plans to begin offshore drilling near the islands.

Yesterday’s decree amounts to an Argentine move to control all traffic from South America towards the islands, including an oil rig due to arrive today and start drilling next year.

“Any boat that wants to travel between ports on the Argentine mainland to the Islas Malvinas, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. . . must first ask for permission from the Argentine Government,” Aníbal Fernández, the Cabinet chief, said.

He added that the decree would force all ships bound for the islands or travelling through waters claimed by Argentina to obtain the new permit.

Argentina is trying to prevent British companies exploiting what experts say could be substantial oil reserves. Buenos Aires is enraged by Britain’s refusal to stop explorations in the face of its long-standing sovereignty claim. Last week it detained a ship, the Thor Leader, which it said had been illegally transporting pipes to the Falklands.

The impending arrival of the Ocean Guardian rig has increased tensions, amid reports from waiting crew members on the islands that it had been shadowed by Argentine jets during the final stage of its journey from the Scottish Highlands.

Last week Argentina vowed to take its complaint against Britain to the United Nations. Jorge Taiana, the Foreign Minister, warned that his Government would take “all necessary steps” to defend its claim on the islands, 300 miles from the coastline.

Geological studies estimate that up to 60 billion barrels of oil could be buried in the seabed around the Falklands, making it a reserve on the scale of the North Sea, which has so far produced 40 billion barrels. The majority of the exploration rights have been awarded to London-based Desire Petroleum, which will drill in the area for the first time since Royal Dutch Shell abandoned its bid in 1998.

The islanders have tried to shrug off the prospect of a new conflict. “There has been an economic blockade of the Falklands from Argentina for many years,” Roger Spink, the director of the Falkland Islands Company, said. “It’s something we’ve come to expect.”

Britain has more than 1,000 military personnel on land and more than 300 at sea around the Falklands, as well as four Typhoon jets, a destroyer and a patrol boat.


Argentina to blockade Falkland waters in dispute over oil rights 17 February 2010 (TimesOnline) http://tinyurl.com/ykcrrpl

[Letsbereal]

Argentina steps up row over Falklands oil exploration
17 February 2010, by Rory Carroll (Guardian.UK)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/feb/17/argentina-steps-up-falkands-oil-row

Britain says drilling for hydrocarbons will go ahead despite Argentine moves to require permits

Britain and the Falkland Islands today brushed off Argentinian moves to impede oil and gas exploration in British-controlled waters in the south Atlantic, saying there was no threat to shipping.

The Foreign Office and Falkland authorities said drilling for hydrocarbon deposits would go ahead without disruption despite an Argentinian effort to control traffic between its ports and the islands.

The rebuff came as critics in Buenos Aires accused Argentina's government of playing the nationalist card to distract from mounting domestic woes.

Yesterday President Cristina Kirchner issued a decree obliging all vessels using Argentinian ports to seek a permit if they enter or leave British-controlled waters, escalating a diplomatic row with London over a prospective "black gold" bonanza.

Argentina lost a brief 1982 war over the archipelago, which it calls the Malvinas, but still claims sovereignty and describes the British presence as an occupation.

Phyl Rendell, the Falklands' director of mineral resources, shrugged off talk of a blockade. "There are very few implications for the Falklands regarding the presidential decree because there are no direct shipping links with Argentina anyway. All oil exploration supplies are being shipped out from Aberdeen. I do not see how the situation can escalate."

The Foreign Office also played down the possibility of conflict and said it wanted to co-operate with Buenos Aires over south Atlantic issues. "Regulations governing Argentine territorial waters are a matter for the Argentine authorities. This does not affect Falkland Islands territorial waters, which are controlled by the island authorities."

Argentina's decree, announced with some fanfare at a press conference, will in theory force all ships bound for the islands or travelling through waters claimed by Argentina to secure the new permit. The decree did not specify, and officials did not elaborate, what sanctions Argentina may levy on ships which do not comply.

Kirchner urged the UN to broker talks over the archipelago's sovereignty and accused Britain of dodging negotiations. The president defended the decree, saying: "I am telling all Argentines that we will keep working for our rights in Malvinas."

Argentinians consider sovereignty over the islands, which Britain occupied in 1833, a matter of national pride. The prospect of missing an oil bonanza has salted wounds from the 1982 conflict, which cost 649 Argentinian and 258 British lives.

A rig, the Ocean Guardian, is expected to arrive this week to start drilling 100 miles offshore. Geological surveys suggest up to 60bn barrels may lie beneath the seabed. Earlier this month Argentina lodged a formal diplomatic protest and last week it prevented a cargo ship from sailing on suspicion it was carrying oil drilling equipment to the islands.

Critics accused Kirchner, whose ratings have plunged over inflation, corruption and battles with farmers, of seeking a distraction. The government must not try to hide "serious internal problems", the newspaper Clarin said in an editorial.

Oil analysts said Argentina's actions would raise the cost of exploration in Argentinian as well as Falkland waters. No commercial deposits have yet been found. A British company, Desire Petroleum, has hired the Ocean Guardian rig to drill in the North Falkland basin and will later lease it to two other British companies, Rockhopper and Falklands Oil and Gas, and an Australian one, BHP Billiton.


Argentina steps up row over Falklands oil exploration 17 February 2010 (Guardian.UK) http://tinyurl.com/yfygv7u

[Letsbereal]

Falklands oil row dialogue sought by Argentina
20 February 2010, (BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8525734.stm

Argentina has said it wants dialogue with the UK in the row over planned British oil drilling around the Falkland Islands.

Deputy Foreign Minister Victorio Taccetti added that Argentina could do little beyond the new controls it had imposed on shipping to the islands.

The UK has said the oil exploration conforms to international law.

An oil rig from the UK has arrived in the Falklands' waters, with drilling due to begin on Sunday.

Earlier this week, Argentina announced that special permits would be required by all ships heading from its ports or through its waters to the Falklands.

Buenos Aires is also hoping its neighbouring countries will co-operate to impose South America-wide restrictions.

Mr Taccetti said: "We are trying to convince the British that it is in their interest to negotiate with Argentina.

"This is not an escalation, this is just something that we have to do in order to protect our rights - because we consider that this exploration and eventual exploitation of our natural resources is illegal."

He said Argentina would use "all the legal means to restrict the access to the islands from the continent", but added: "I don't think we can go much further."

Geologists say there could be rich energy reserves in the ocean bed surrounding the British Overseas Territory of the Falklands.

But Argentina claims sovereignty over the islands, which it calls Islas Malvinas.

'Properly protected'

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband has said all British oil exploration in the area is "completely in accordance with international law".

The rig, the Ocean Guardian, has been travelling from Invergordon in the Cromarty Firth since November.

Owner Desire Petroleum said its rig "has not gone anywhere near Argentine waters", and it had therefore not sought permission from the Argentine government.

The rig will be tethered about 60 miles off the islands over the weekend before drilling begins on Sunday.

The Falklands Legislative Assembly said that Argentina's bid to disrupt oil exploration was "no surprise" but "nonetheless disappointing".

The statement added that "all the supplies the industry needs are located here in the islands" and drilling would begin as planned next week, "weather permitting".

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said the government has "made all the preparations that are necessary to make sure the Falkland islanders are properly protected".

Argentina invaded the Falklands in 1982, before a UK taskforce seized back control in a short war that claimed the lives of 649 Argentine and 255 British service personnel.

Last year, Argentina submitted a claim to the United Nations for a vast expanse of ocean, based on research into the extent of the continental shelf, stretching to the Antarctic and including the Falklands, South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands - all UK territories.

It is due to raise the issue at the UN next week.


Falklands oil row dialogue sought by Argentina 20 February 2010 (BBC News) http://tinyurl.com/yhl5xsd

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Drilling for oil set to start off the Falkland Islands
22 February 2010, (BBC News)
http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8527307.stm

A British rig is due to begin drilling for oil in the territorial waters of the Falkland Islands, despite strong opposition from Argentina.

The platform has been towed to a point 100km (62 miles) north of the islands in the South Atlantic.

Argentina says the move violates its sovereignty and has imposed shipping restrictions around the islands.

It is estimated the Falklands have the equivalent of 60 billion barrels of oil in total.

But a spokesman for Desire Petroleum, which is carrying out the drilling, told the BBC the amount which could be exploited commercially would probably be a fraction of that.

Argentina has threatened to take "adequate measures" to stop British oil exploration in contested waters around the islands, and is seeking support from Latin American countries at a regional meeting in Mexico.

"Desire is an oil company and it's exploring for oil and not getting involved in what Argentina is saying about going to the UN. The rig is sitting firmly inside UK waters"

David Willie - Desire Petroleum

It wants its neighbours to also impose restrictions on shipping in the area.

Argentina can already count on support from President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, who said Britain was being irrational and had to realise the "time for empires was over".

Argentina has long claimed the islands, which it calls the Malvinas.

It invaded the Falklands in 1982, before a UK taskforce seized back control in a short war that claimed the lives of 649 Argentine and 255 British service personnel.

But it has ruled out military action and is trying to pressure Britain into negotiations on sovereignty.

International law

Last year Argentina submitted a claim to the United Nations for a vast expanse of ocean, based on research into the extent of the continental shelf, stretching to the Antarctic and including the island chains governed by the UK.

It is due to raise the issue at the UN later this week.

Desire Petroleum spokesman David Willie said: "Desire is an oil company and it's exploring for oil and not getting involved in what Argentina is saying about going to the UN. The rig is sitting firmly inside UK waters."

He added that Argentina was beginning its own oil exploration programme in the waters west of the islands.

Mr Willie said oil exploration in the Falklands was at an early stage, and even if commercially viable amounts were found it would be many years before the oil would start to flow.

The rig, the Ocean Guardian, has been towed 8,000 miles from the Cromarty Firth in Scotland.

Last week the Falklands Legislative Assembly, which sold the licence to explore for oil to Desire, said it had "every right" to develop "legitimate business" in hydrocarbons.

UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said British oil exploration in the area was "completely in accordance with international law".

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown also said the government had "made all the preparations that are necessary to make sure the Falkland islanders are properly protected".



The Ocean Guardian has arrived in Falkland Islands waters (Footage from Channel 4): http://newsvote.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8527307.stm


Drilling for oil set to start off the Falkland Islands 22 February 2010 (BBC News) http://tinyurl.com/ykjk69a

[Letsbereal]

Argentina claims vast ocean area
22 April 2009, by Candace Piette - Buenos Aires (BBC News)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8011539.stm

Argentina has formally laid claim to a vast expanse of ocean, stretching as far as the Antarctic and including island chains governed by Britain.

Argentine diplomats handed 800kg (1,760 lbs) of documents to the UN, saying it was the fruit of 11 years of research.

The 1,700,000 sq km (650,000 sq miles) includes the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands.

Argentina has been in dispute with Britain over the sovereignty of the islands for more than 170 years.

The claim adds to the 4,800,000 sq km of continental shelf spreading out 320 km (200 miles) from Argentina's coast.

It has also been in dispute with Chile over parts of Antarctica which are also included in the claim.

Detailed research

The Argentine documents handed in to UN diplomats in New York included scientific measurements of the depth of the sea around the Argentine coastline.

What the documents are trying to prove is the extent of the continental shelf way out into the ocean.

This is significant, as under current international legislation, a state's ownership of the continental shelf can exceed 200 nautical miles until its natural extension ends.

Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana said the documents were the culmination of 11 years of research and diplomatic effort to prove the size of Argentina´s sovereign territory.

He also said that if the United Kingdom wished to present its own claim to the continental platform around the disputed Falkland islands - or Malvinas islands, as they are known in Argentina - then his country would object formally.

An Argentine foreign ministry statement said Great Britain had usurped the islands in 1833, illegally occupying Argentine territory, and that Britain had ignored calls by the UN to begin discussions over the issue.


Argentina claims vast ocean area 22 April 2009 (BBC News) http://tinyurl.com/cy4ppx

[Letsbereal]

US refuses to endorse British sovereignty in Falklands oil dispute
25 February 2010, (The Times)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7040245.ece

Washington refused to endorse British claims to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands yesterday as the diplomatic row over oil drilling in the South Atlantic intensified in London, Buenos Aires and at the UN.

Despite Britain’s close alliance with the US, the Obama Administration is determined not to be drawn into the issue. It has also declined to back Britain’s claim that oil exploration near the islands is sanctioned by international law, saying that the dispute is strictly a bilateral issue.

Argentina appealed to the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, last night to intervene in the dispute, a move Britain adamantly opposes.

“The Secretary-General knows about the issue. He is not happy to learn that the situation is worsening,” Jorge Taiana, the Argentine Foreign Minister, said after meeting Mr Ban in New York.

“We have asked the Secretary-General, within the framework of his good offices, to stress to Britain the need to abstain from further unilateral acts.”

A top UN aide acknowledged, however, that Mr Ban would not be able to mediate because of Britain’s opposition.

Sir Mark Lyall Grant, Britain’s Ambassador to the UN, said: “As British ministers have made clear, the UK has no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the Sandwich Islands . . . We are also clear that the Falkland Islands Government is entitled to develop a hydrocarbons industry within its waters, and we support this legitimate business in Falklands’ territory.”

Senior US officials insisted that Washington’s position on the Falklands was one of longstanding neutrality. This is in stark contrast to the public backing and vital intelligence offered by President Reagan to Margaret Thatcher once she had made the decision to recover the islands by force in 1982.

“We are aware not only of the current situation but also of the history, but our position remains one of neutrality,” a State Department spokesman told The Times. “The US recognises de facto UK administration of the islands but takes no position on the sovereignty claims of either party.”

Kevin Casas-Zamora, a Brookings Institution analyst and former vice-president of Costa Rica, said that President Reagan’s support for Britain in 1982 “irked a lot of people in Latin America”.

The Obama Administration “is trying to split the difference as much as it can because it knows that coming round to the British position would again create a lot of ill will in the region”, he said.

British officials in Washington said that they were comfortable with the US response to the dispute, but indicated that any American support for mediated negotiations would not be well received. It was “up to the islanders whether they want mediation or not”, one official said.

Britain has boosted the islands’ defences since the conflict, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, the First Sea Lord, said last night. “We have built a massive runway. We have emplaced forces on the ground, we have sophisticated early warning systems. It is a different package. To compare the way we dealt with the issues in 1982 with today is nonsense,” he said.


US refuses to endorse British sovereignty in Falklands oil dispute 25 February 2010 (The Times) http://tinyurl.com/yfg24ng