UK and Argentina clash over Falklands oil project as Hamburg tribunal prepares to hear dispute

Britain will “robustly defend our interests” as Argentina brings a legal challenge over oil exploration near the Falkland Islands at a tribunal hearing on Tuesday.

Downing Street rejected Argentina’s “characterisation of the situation” after president Javier Milei claimed that UK and Israeli companies involved in a joint venture in the South Atlantic Ocean were acting unlawfully.

In a hearing set for Tuesday, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea will assess Argentina’s complaint about the Sea Lion development, which lies north of the islands.

The Hamburg-based tribunal, established under a UN convention, can issue legally-binding rulings on maritime disputes. The proceedings are expected to last two days.

The Sea Lion development is a joint venture in the South Atlantic Ocean between British and Israeli companies, and contains an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil.

Mr Milei previously described the activities of the British and Israeli companies as unlawful and launched economic sanctions on people and firms involved in oil exploration around the islands.

However, the prime minister’s official spokesman said on Monday that Britain was “fully engaged in the UNCLOS process and we’ll clearly set out our position on Argentina’s request for provisional measures before the tribunal”.

“We’ll continue to robustly defend our interests and those of the Falkland Islanders. The hearing is not about the sovereignty of the Falklands,” the spokesman said.

“We don’t accept Argentina’s characterisation of the situation. The Falkland Islanders have the right to develop their natural resources, and Argentina’s initiation of proceedings does not itself require lawful economic activity to cease. We’ll set out our legal position before the tribunal.”

The prime minister told the UN general assembly earlier this year the UK “will stand firm in the face of any threats” to the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands. “I didn’t react immediately when the Argentinian president made his recent comments, but in this forum, I think it’s right for me to set out the position clearly, and the clear position is: we will stand firm in the face of any threats,” Andy Burnham told the assembly.

“We will defend the right of the Falkland Islanders to self-determination and to remain British.”

The Falklands have long been a source of diplomatic tension between the two countries, which fought a war for sovereignty in 1982 after Argentina invaded the British territory.

Falkland Islanders previously voted overwhelmingly to remain a British Overseas Territory, but Mr Milei dismissed their wishes in his speech to the UN.

He argued that the principle of self-determination did not apply “since the population was implanted by the occupying power on a territory whose sovereignty is in dispute”.