CORRECT:Argentina Government Protests Falklands Oil & Gas Exploration
February 02 2010 - 4:26PM
Dow Jones News
Argentina's government on Tuesday protested oil and gas
exploration activities in waters to the north of the
U.K.-controlled Falkland Islands, over which the two countries
fought a war in 1982.
The Argentine government "firmly rejects the United Kingdom's
plan to authorize operations for exploration and exploitation of
hydrocarbons in the Argentine continental shelf," the foreign
ministry said in a statement.
The Argentine government said it would deliver a note later
Tuesday to the U.K. representative in Buenos Aires in which it
would express its "most energetic protest" against the exploration
activities.
Argentina claims the Falklands and surrounding waters are under
"illegitimate British occupation."
Officials at the U.K. embassy in Buenos Aires said they didn't
have an immediate comment.
The Falkland Islands, known as the Islas Malvinas in Argentina,
are a source of tension in relations with the U.K., which won the
brief war in 1982.
Analysts say that as much as 60 billion barrels of high-grade
oil could be found in the 200-square-mile economic zone surrounding
the islands. That could make the Falklands one of the world's
largest oil reserves, comparable with the North Sea, which so far
has produced about 40 billion barrels.
The U.K. and Argentina have overlapping claims around the
Falklands and have clashed over territorial rights at the United
Nations. The U.K. wants to extend its rights to waters surrounding
the Falkland Islands and also wants to lock in a vast tract of
seabed off the coast of Antarctica.
Argentina has submitted its own claim at the U.N. for territory
in the South Atlantic.
Exploration for oil and gas is proceeding on both sides of the
maritime divide. On the U.K. side, Desire Petroleum PLC (DES.LN)
and Rockhopper Exploration PLC (RKH.LN) will start looking for oil
and gas in the North Falkland Basin this month.
That lies northeast of Argentina's Cuenca Malvinas, which is
being explored by a consortium led by Spanish oil firm Repsol YPF
SA (REP, REP.MC), and which includes a unit of the U.K.'s BP PLC
(BP, BP.LN) as well as Brazil's Petroleo Brasileiro SA (PBR,
PETR4.BR).
-By Matthew Cowley, Dow Jones Newswires; +54 11 4103 6740;
matthew.cowley@dowjones.com
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