
The escalating dispute between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the Sea Lion oil project north of the Falklands has spilled into trade: London, a member of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, has not ruled out using its position to stall Argentina’s bid to join the pact, which requires the consensus of all its members. The British government says Buenos Aires’s conduct raises “very serious questions about its reliability as a partner”.
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Argentina has asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to order the United Kingdom to prevent the development of the Sea Lion oil project north of the Falklands and to refrain from granting new permits to exploit the resources of the disputed continental shelf, according to a statement published by the Hamburg-based tribunal. The hearing will be set “at the earliest possible date”.
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British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said on Tuesday that the people of the Falkland Islands “have a right to develop their natural resources as they see fit”, as he announced on X the British government’s measures to protect companies and individuals from Argentine sanctions.
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British Overseas Territories Minister Uma Kumaran on Tuesday accused Argentine President Javier Milei of a “brazen attempt to use the people of the Falkland Islands as some sort of political prop ahead of Argentina’s elections next year”, in a statement to the House of Commons watched from the gallery by the Chair of the islands’ Legislative Assembly, Jack Ford.
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The British government said on Tuesday that any provisional measures ordered by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea are binding and that the United Kingdom complies with its international obligations, on the same day Argentina asked that tribunal to halt the Sea Lion oil project in Falklands waters. In parallel, London announced it will use its protection of trading interests legislation to shield British companies from Argentine sanctions.
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“In my meeting with President Trump I raised the Falkland Islands and the clear and declared will of the Islanders to remain British”, revealed United Kingdom Prime Minister Andy Burnham in an oral statement to the House of Commons this Monday.
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The two-week deadline Argentina gave the United Kingdom to halt the Sea Lion oil project in the North Falklands basin expires around October 12. Its expiry will not in itself suspend the project or establish a British breach of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, according to a legal analysis published by specialist site Diplomacy & Law.

British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband hosted Cheryl Roberts, a member of the Falkland Islands Legislative Assembly, in London on Thursday, and reiterated to her that the United Kingdom “stands shoulder to shoulder” with the archipelago's residents and “remains steadfast” in supporting their right “to determine their own future and develop their own resources”.

The British government has rejected Argentina's decision to initiate international arbitration over the Sea Lion oil project and said Buenos Aires' campaign over the Falklands raises questions about Argentina's reliability as a partner for the United Kingdom. It is the first time London has extended the dispute to the bilateral relationship as a whole.

Argentine President Javier Milei on Monday instructed the foreign ministry and the government's legal teams to launch international arbitration proceedings against the United Kingdom over the development of the Sea Lion oil project in the basin north of the Falklands, and gave London two weeks to halt the activity before Argentina turns to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.