Israel's Navitas Petroleum is at the center of a new legal offensive from Buenos Aires. On Tuesday, Argentina said it asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea to stop oil and gas activity north of the Falkland Islands, targeting the Sea Lion field, which Navitas leads. The Jerusalem Post, citing The Telegraph, reported that UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband approved the development earlier the same day, and Navitas confirmed the approval.
Argentina is seeking provisional measures to block Britain from exploiting hydrocarbons on the continental shelf of the Northern Falklands Basin. Its application "seeks to preserve Argentina's sovereign rights over its continental shelf and prevent activities authorised unilaterally and illegally by the United Kingdom," the government said. Foreign Affairs Minister Pablo Quirno wrote on X that Argentina wants the tribunal to issue several orders against the UK, among them a halt to new exploration permits.
The tribunal is an independent judicial body in Hamburg that oversees the application of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Navitas and its partner, Britain's Rockhopper Exploration, maintain that they hold valid licenses issued by the Falkland Islands government with British approval. The UK government insists Sea Lion is lawful, sits on the Falkland Islands shelf and is regulated by the islands' government.
In September, Argentina's government began sanctions proceedings against some 60 companies and people linked to the project and announced it would file a criminal complaint against Navitas for operating in the Falklands.
UK Foreign Office minister Uma Kumaran told the House of Commons that Argentina was waging an "escalating campaign" against companies operating in the Falklands and accused Buenos Aires of "economic coercion" against the islanders. "We will do whatever it takes to support them," she said.
Kumaran added that the tribunal application "does not invalidate licenses issued by the Falkland Islands government, alter the islands' regulatory authority, or require lawful hydrocarbon development activities to cease." She also called Argentine President Javier Milei's recent UN General Assembly speech "inflammatory." In that speech, Milei described the UN as "a useless organisation."
"Argentina's attempts to intimidate businesses and individuals engaged in legitimate commercial activity are unacceptable. Companies should be free to make lawful commercial decisions without the threat of political coercion," Miliband said.
The case targets an Israeli-led project, though Milei has been a close partner of Jerusalem. In September, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Milei in New York after his UN address and thanked him for his steadfast support of Israel.
