Argentina gives UK two weeks to halt Sea Lion project

Argentina’s government has given the United Kingdom two weeks to halt work on the Sea Lion oil project near the Falkland Islands, warning it will seek emergency measures from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea if Britain does not comply. The deadline was announced by President Javier Milei’s office on September 28 and falls around October 12, according to the statement. Whether Argentina files an application or Britain changes the project remains unresolved. The proposed action would ask the tribunal, based in Hamburg, to order a temporary halt to the offshore development. The court can issue legally binding emergency orders, but it has no means to compel the United Kingdom to comply, according to reports describing its powers. Argentina’s statement says the project threatens its claimed sovereign rights over the seabed; that characterization is the government’s position, not an established finding by the tribunal. Sea Lion is in the North Falkland Basin and is being developed by Britain’s Rockhopper Exploration and Israel’s Navitas Petroleum. The project’s anticipated first production is 2028.