Scandal in the Falklands: British Oil Company Advances with Works in Port Stanley

A bombshell of information shakes the Falklands conflict. British oil company Rockhopper Exploration, in partnership with Israeli Navitas Petroleum, is moving full speed ahead with the construction of onshore facilities in Port Stanley, according to images published in an internal document. The works are part of the offshore Sea Lion project, which plans to start pumping crude in the first quarter of 2028, 220 kilometers north of the islands.

The photos, published for the first time in the summary of Rockhopper’s annual meeting, show the development of future storage plants, the dock to be used by support vessels, and logistics facilities. All this, while the Argentine government limits itself to issuing statements of repudiation that, so far, have not stopped a single construction.

The Sea Lion project, which has already received the Final Investment Decision (FID) since last year, is a direct affront to Argentine sovereignty. Hydrocarbons Law No. 26,659 of 2011 prohibits any exploration or exploitation on the continental shelf without state authorization. However, the companies, declared illegal by Argentina, continue as if nothing were wrong.

The first phase of the project will require an investment of US$1.8 billion to produce 55,000 barrels of oil per day. But long-term plans are much more ambitious: reaching 180,000 barrels per day, a figure that represents 20% of Argentina’s current production, including Vaca Muerta. To put the impact into perspective, England today produces 880,000 barrels per day across its entire territory, and Sea Lion could generate annual revenues exceeding those of the North Sea, whose production has fallen 80% since 2000.

The royalties and taxes that the British government would receive are astronomical: equivalent to $106,000 per year for each of the 3,500 inhabitants of the islands, according to the British financial newspaper Financial Times. The president of the local Chamber of Commerce, Stirling Harcus, told the same outlet: «Many thought it was a useless project, that it would never be carried out, but Navitas seems to be overcoming that skepticism. The move to the production phase will be transformative for the islands.»

In addition to port facilities, the project includes the construction of a hotel for 160 people and a heliport to transfer personnel to the floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel that will operate at sea. That platform will be connected to wells drilled 2,500 meters deep, on the seabed 450 meters below the surface. In total, the project is estimated to employ 260 people, 8% of the current population of the islands.

Meanwhile, the Argentine Foreign Ministry repeats over and over that the companies are illegal and that it will resort to diplomatic channels. But the facts show that words are not enough. The images of the works in Port Stanley are irrefutable proof that the United Kingdom is advancing in the exploitation of natural resources in disputed territory, without the Argentine government having managed to impose effective sanctions or stop investments.

The official silence is deafening. While foreign oil companies prepare to extract the oil that belongs to us, Argentina continues to look the other way. How much longer?