The Government of Argentina on Monday announced that it will file criminal charges against Israeli oil company Navitas Petroleum over its involvement in an offshore oil project at the Falkland Islands, a British territory that Argentina claims as its own.
In recent days, President Javier Milei announced that his administration will implement a series of national security and diplomatic measures in response to recent developments at “Sea Lion,” a joint British-Israeli offshore oil and gas project north of the Falkland Islands where an estimated 1.7 billion barrels of oil are located, according to the BBC.
Navitas Petroleum, based in Tel Aviv, reportedly holds a 65 percent stake in the Sea Lion project, while the Salisbury-based Rockhopper Exploration holds the remaining 35 percent.
Milei and Argentine government officials have alleged that the project stands in violation of a United Nations resolution requesting that both Argentina and the U.K. abstain from out unilateral actions “including the exploitation of natural resources” until the “controversy” over the territorial dispute is resolved.
The Argentine President suggested during a Thursday official address that the U.N. request seeks to block the Sea Lion oil project. At the time, Milei announced that Argentina will impose sanctions on companies or individuals involved in oil operations on or near the Falkland Islands, which the South American nation refers to as the Malvinas Islands.
In an official statement signed by President Milei, the Office of the Argentine Presidency detailed that the nation’s government will file a criminal complaint against Navitas Petroleum Development & Production Ltd., Navitas Petroleum Atlantic United, Navitas Petroleum LP, JHI Associates Inc., and Eco Atlantic Oil & Gas Ltd. Per the statement, the criminal complaint will be presented by Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and comes with the backing of Treasury Attorney General Sebastian Javier Amerio.
The government justified the legal proceedings by alleging that Navitas presumptively counts with “licenses granted by the illegitimate government of the United Kingdom” for the oil project. The presidency further explained that the complaint is directed against all directors, managers, trustees, members of the supervisory board, administrators, agents, representatives, or authorized persons who may have been involved in what it described as a “criminal act.”
“The filing of this complaint constitutes a concrete action to protect natural resources and safeguard the sovereignty of the Argentine Republic over the Malvinas Islands, South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands, as well as the corresponding maritime and insular areas, as they are an integral part of the national territory,” the statement read.
“The defense of sovereignty must be exercised through all legal and institutional means available to the national government to prevent third parties from carrying out activities involving resources belonging to the Argentine Republic.”
The Argentine presidency affirmed that the national government will investigate and take necessary actions to “ensure that no act that violates the sovereign rights of the Argentine Republic goes unpunished.”
Navitas Petroleum has not publicly commented on Argentina’s criminal complaint actions against the company at press time. Both Navitas and Rockhopper reportedly detailed last week that Milei’s initial announcements were not excepted to have an effect on the development of Sea Lion. The companies also emphasized that they hold valid licenses from the Falklands Islands for the project.
International outlets noted that the Argentine government’s announcement against the Tel Aviv-based oil company also comes amid rising tensions between the government of Israel and the British government.
On Monday, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir published a Spanish language statement calling upon the State of Israel to “publicly recognize that the Malvinas Islands are Argentine territory under occupation which the British violently steal from the Argentine people.”
Ben-Gvir also called upon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “recognize Argentina’s sovereignty” over the Falkland Islands and impose sanctions on Great Britain “as long as the occupation continues.”
“The British are not content with merely occupying the territory; they also carry out oil drilling there and steal the money from the Argentine people,” Ben-Gvir wrote.
The Argentine newspaper La Nación explained on Tuesday that the Milei administration is invoking a local legislation that demands “Argentine authorization” for any hydrocarbon extraction project in Argentine territory — including the contested Falkland Islands, despite the islands being officially part of the United Kingdom.
The Falkland Islands are a South American archipelago that was uninhabited until British sailors arrived in the 1600s. For nearly 200 years, Argentina has maintained a longstanding territorial claim over the islands, to the point that the Malvinas cause is a subject of national identity. A nearly unanimous number of the island’s inhabitants have democratically voted to remain part of the United Kingdom.
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