Argentina has asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to order an urgent suspension of drilling at the Sea Lion offshore oil project north of the Falkland Islands, arguing that Britain’s agreement to the project is unlawful while sovereignty over the islands is disputed, and the tribunal is expected to rule on the application on November 28 after two days of hearings in Hamburg this week. In a witness statement unsealed after a Guardian application, Rockhopper Exploration chief executive Sam Moody said Argentina wrote to him and the company’s chief financial officer as recently as September 1, 2026, threatening criminal prosecution, imprisonment and fines under Argentine domestic law, and Britain’s attorney general told the tribunal that a suspension would be terminal to the project’s hopes of success.
Sea Lion, led by Rockhopper and Israel’s Navitas, is expected to double the islands’ GDP and provide an £8bn uplift in revenues for the Falkland Islands government over the field’s active lifetime. Buenos Aires has banned Navitas from operating in Argentina for 20 years and, according to the companies’ tribunal submissions, has pressed contractors and banks to stay away from the project; the US firm Halliburton recently said it would not work on Sea Lion after discussions with Argentina.