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Falklands oil prospects raise Argentina-UK tensions

Posted on: Sat February 13, 2010

BUENOS AIRES: British oil drilling operations around the Falkland Islands are whipping up new tensions with Argentina almost 30 years after the two countries went to war over the South Atlantic archipelago.    

The former foes locked horns again on Thursday after Buenos Aires blocked a shipment of pipes it said was bound for the Falklands: the scene of a brief but bloody conflict in 1982 that Britain won but Argentina has not forgotten.    

Authorities boarded the foreign flagged Thor Leader in the southern Argentine port of Campana after learning it was about to take on a cargo of pipes destined for the Falklands.    

 Evidence exists that indicates that the freighter was to be used to supply material linked to oil industry activities that the United Kingdom is illegally promoting in the Malvinas Islands, the foreign ministry said, using the archipelago s Argentine name.    

Techint, a group headquartered in Campana that was shipping the pipes, said it was totally false they were bound for the Falklands and maintained they were actually headed for various Mediterranean ports. Whatever their destination, the action has further inflamed tensions after Britain announced plans to begin oil exploration and production in the northern basin of the Falklands.    

The British company Desire Petroleum is to begin drilling before the end of the month 100 miles north of the archipelago near a couple of islands that lie 300 miles from the Argentine coast.    

Last week Argentina lodged an energetic protest with London about drilling in the seabed around the Falklands, which contains up to 60 billion barrels of oil, according to geological studies quoted in the British media.    

The Argentine government firmly rejects the intent of the United Kingdom to authorize the carrying out of oil and gas exploration and pumping in the Argentine continental shelf area, the diplomatic note said in part.    

The foreign ministry called in British Ambassador Shan Morgan who was not in the country, so the note was relayed through business attache Simon Thomas.

Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana said Argentina had not ruled out the possibility of taking its case to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

 Argentina must exhaust every channel, because it is absolutely unacceptable, said Liliana Fadul, a lawmaker for the province of Tierra del Fuego on the southern tip of Argentina, closest to the Falklands.    

Tierra del Fuego has stepped up its interest in the row since the Argentine Congress on December 9 adopted a law linking the Falklands to the southern mainland province, a move immediately rejected by London.    

Further north, authorities in Neuquen province have also said they are in favor of taking the matter to The Hague.

Buenos Aires is furious that London continues to skirt UN resolutions calling on both governments to renew a dialogue on the sovereignty of the Falklands.    

Britain in January rejected Argentina s latest claim to the islands, over which Argentina has claimed sovereignty since they were occupied by the British in 1833.    

Buenos Aires has urged a solution along the lines of what Britain agreed for the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.

Britain and Argentina s rival claims of ownership exploded into war in 1982 after Argentine military rulers seized the islands, only to be defeated and expelled by a British naval force. The conflict lasted 74 days and cost the lives of 649 Argentine soldiers and 255 from Britain.

Courtesy : The News