Falklands Oil Exploration: Argentina To Sue Companies Over 'Illegal' Drilling

* Rockhopper, Borders & Southern among companies affected

* Argentina says aim is to get UK into sovereignty talks

* UK says it supports islanders' right to develop oil sector

By Juliana Castilla

BUENOS AIRES, March 15 (Reuters) - Argentina will take legal action at home and abroad against any companies involved in oil exploration off the Falkland Islands, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said on Thursday.

Thirty years after it repelled an Argentine invasion of the Falklands, Britain has vowed to defend the archipelago, saying it will negotiate sovereignty or oil rights only if the 3,000 islanders want that.

Argentina says Britain is flouting U.N. resolutions that call for talks and prohibit any unilateral action as long as the sovereignty dispute persists. Timerman said offshore oil exploration amounts to a unilateral move.

At a news conference in Buenos Aires, the minister called the exploration and drilling activities "illegal". He said Argentina will bring civil and criminal charges to sanction the companies involved.

"With these actions we assume the responsibility of defending Argentina's natural resources," Timerman said. "The South Atlantic's oil and gas are property of the Argentine people."

Britain reacted by saying it supported the rights of Falkland islanders to exploit their oil reserves. This was an "integral part of the right of self-determination", a British Foreign Office spokesman said.

Several companies have drilled in waters off the islands. British explorer Rockhopper has been seeking a partner to invest in the $2 billion Sea Lion project.

Borders & Southern and Falkland Oil & Gas are set to drill wells south of the islands this year.

An industry source in London said legal action against companies involved in Falklands oil exploration "will have no impact on Rockhopper's operations as they look to develop the Sea Lion project".

Borders & Southern declined to comment.

Timerman said companies providing logistical and financial support to the search for Falklands oil will be included in the suits, along with the Ocean Guardian and Leiv Eiriksson drilling platforms.

"Argentina understands that without the participation of many other actors, these illegitimate activities cannot be carried out," Timerman said.

Falkland residents, known as "Kelpers", show no signs of wanting to break with Britain. In Spanish, the islands are known as Las Malvinas.

Comments

[Jerry Bourbon]

08:28 PM on 03/18/2012

Stirring up all this nationalist idiocy is still NOT going to save the Ugly Widow Fernandez when her failed economic policies and 35% inflation blows up in her face.

[randyjet]

08:43 AM on 03/18/2012

By taking that stand, it cuts off Argentina from any share in the economic benefits of that oil. Now the support facilities will simply move to Uraguay. Of course, that might provoke Argentina to demand that they get THAT country back too! Then we can have another war between those two countries.

[PandaUnbound]

10:19 AM on 03/17/2012

There isn't any dispute. Falklands belong to the Falklanders.

[D-Driller]

05:37 AM on 03/17/2012

You would think that after the first Falkland Islands War, when 2 Para LITERALLY stomped the Argentine invaders to death, they might want to lay off this issue, let it slide, as it were...

[Sam Kirshaw]

11:46 PM on 03/16/2012

Once again we are subjected to an Argentinian politician threatening a sovereign group of islands whose inhabitants have determined that they overwhelmingly wish to stay under the protection of British rule and stability. It is indeed odd that the so-called Malvinas are hard-wired into the Argentinian consciousness in a way that Uruguay, once clearly a more logical part of Argentina, is not. Even the disputed ownership of the island of Tierra del Fuego and claims on other Chilean islands seem to have faded into the none-too-distant past. Buenos Aires' claims hegemony on South Atlantic mineral resources, conveniently ignoring the interests of Brazil, Chile, the formerly owned Uruguay and the Republic of South Africa. Neither does one hear Argentina complaining about northern latitude nations having an interest in nearby Antarctica. The United Kingdom is morally and politically correct in standing by a population of plucky islanders who have determined democratically under which flag they wish to reside.

[randyjet]

08:39 AM on 03/18/2012

But the nice thing is that the Brits might actually cede those islands. THAT is the difference. So as long as the Brits are trying to be" reasonabe" this crap will keep on. They need to tell the Argentinians to GROW UP!

[Fred303]

06:04 PM on 03/16/2012

Britain is a dying Superpower and is only trying to hold on to it's nostalgia , in 2020 they wont even be one of the top 5 countries in the world in regards to GDP.

[Sam Kirshaw]

11:55 PM on 03/16/2012

This nonsensical comment clearly ignores the sovereign will of the Falkland Islanders. As to the relative position of the United Kingdom in the world GDP list this is an irrelevancy. We are not talking economics here, but rather sovereignty. It is indeed interesting that no one seems to make any similar comments about a part of France still remaining in the Indian Ocean ~ Reunion! However, if we want to start puffing out our chests about GDP, 2020 may well be the time when the USA loses its position as number one nation. And as one knows, according to many pundits, second is nowhere!

[sloop uk]

10:22 AM on 04/02/2012

We gave up any pretence of still being a superpower in 1967.

The Falkland Isles are about principle.

[nasknit]

05:44 PM on 03/16/2012

Here we go again!

[Zariana]

07:48 AM on 03/16/2012

Argentina chooses the Imperialist saber-rattling because allowing the people of the Falklands the right of self-determination would keep the status quo.

Someone should point out to Foreign Minister Timerman that the South Atlantic's oil and gas reserves belong to Brazil. That's not politics, it's reality.

[peegan]

12:27 AM on 03/16/2012

Give it up Argentina. The Falklands just aren't that into you.

[mhh310351]

01:01 AM on 03/16/2012

I think they are called Kelpers.

[PandaUnbound]

10:22 AM on 03/17/2012

Very good! It's also: "winners, keepers, losers, weepers". Or modonna/evita once sang: "Don't cry for me, Argentina".

[T150662]

10:43 PM on 03/15/2012

Ok Argentina, how far are you going to go with your stupidity? You're going to sue who for what exactly? You will never have the Falklands, ever. I reckon that soon you will make a half arsed attack and then blame the collapse of your economy on the UK. Grow up

[mhh310351]

09:13 PM on 03/15/2012

The British have basically lived there continuously for 180 years.

The inhabitants have said they would rather stay British.

Do the wishes of the inhabitants mean nothing?

Mexico has a stronger claim for California than Argentina has concerning the Falklands.

[randyjet]

08:41 AM on 03/18/2012

Not quite since we PAID for all that land. The Brits simply took the islands.

[pynecastle]

01:33 PM on 03/19/2012

That argument doesn't seem to be working very well for the Palestinians.

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

08:29 PM on 03/15/2012

It's been 150 years...what are your trying to do ..set a world record for whining, sulking, and generally being sore losers?

[markspence]

01:56 AM on 03/16/2012

Equity rewards the vigilant, not those who slumber on their rights.

[Sunwyn Ravenwood]

03:06 AM on 03/16/2012

What does your glib cliche have to do with those pathetic whiners in Argentina who are still complaining that the English took the Falkland Islands away from them 150 years ago?