Popular Consultation in the Falkland Islands for Oil Extraction Will Transform the Local Economy
The British local authorities of the Falkland Islands have called for a popular consultation to decide on the oil extraction with 500 million barrels, which will significantly transform the archipelago’s economy, currently dependent on sheep farming and fishing.
Drilling and exploitation operations will be carried out about 240 kilometers north of Puerto Argentino, in the Sea Lion area.
Navitas Petroleum, an Israeli company, will start the extraction of 500,000 barrels per day in 2025 as part of its ambitious project in the North Falkland Basin.
The company has submitted an “environmental impact” statement to the Falkland Islands government, detailing its plans to drill oil wells and start production offshore from the northern development area of the Sea Lion field.
For the extraction, a floating production, storage, and offloading vessel will be used, anchored to the seabed within a 1,275-mile exclusion zone. A memorandum of understanding has been signed for the provision of another vessel relocated for security cases, valid in the UK. Engineering design work began in November 2024.
The development of the Sea Lion field will be carried out in phases, covering a total of 35 wells. The first phase in the North Area will include 11 wells, with approximately 6 drilled and completed before the first oil. The second phase will cover 12 wells in the same area, and the third phase, also with 12 wells, will be developed in the Central Area.
It is expected that the total production of phases 1 and 2 will reach 319 million barrels, while the total production in all phases, including the third, will be 532 million barrels. The maximum production rate for the first two stages will be 55,000 barrels per day, increasing to 120,000 barrels per day with the full development of the three phases.
This project represents the first commercially viable hydrocarbon discovery made by Rockhopper in 2010, with a projected field lifespan of 30 years.
It is expected that a mobile offshore drilling unit will drill 23 wells in six drilling centers, consisting of 16 oil production wells, 6 water injection wells, and a remote gas injection well.
New British Maritime Control Expansion in the Falkland Islands Generates Controversy
The United Kingdom has unilaterally decided to extend its control over the maritime zones of the Falkland Islands, prohibiting navigational and fishing activities in an additional 166,000 km² area. This extension adds to the 283,000 km² already subject to exclusion since 2012, when British authorities forced the creation of a Marine Protected Area (MPA).
These decisions are reprehensible for three main reasons: they violate the prohibition of unilateral actions in the Falklands Issue according to General Assembly resolution 31/49, fail to comply with the UK’s commitments under the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), and use measures supposedly linked to environmental conservation and protection for geopolitical purposes.
In 2011, British authorities announced the creation of the MPA over 1,200,000 km² of sea. The initiative was immediately rejected by the Argentine government, which considered it a “provocative act” carried out unilaterally. Argentina argued that the measure encroached on waters subject to consensual rules in the Convention for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR). Of that oceanic region, 283,000 km² were already subject to navigational and fishing exclusion, representing 23% of the Falkland Islands’ maritime zone. With the latest expansion announced on February 26, British control now extends over 36% of the zone.
Under the pretext of marine preservation, the United Kingdom not only oversteps Argentine sovereign rights, but also violates CCAMLR norms, of which more than thirty countries claiming sovereignty over the Antarctic Continent are part, exacerbating the conflict. The Convention was formed with the intention of preserving the area through coordination and the establishment of common rules for its members.
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