Page 4 - LatAmOil Week 35

LatAmOil COMMENTARY LatAmOil

Argentina takes a different

approach to the Falklands

According to Daniel Filmus, the Secretary of the Malvinas Islands, Buenos Aires may allow

IOCs that have worked in disputed waters to participate in new offshore bidding rounds

ARGENTINA’S government has indicated filed suit against IOCs involved in the search
that it may permit international oil companies for crude oil and natural gas near the islands, on
WHAT: (IOCs) that have been involved in the explora- the ground that the companies in question are
Argentina is no longer tion of offshore fields near the Falkland Islands violating its national sovereignty. Now, though,
focusing on legal action. to submit bids for sections of the Argentinian it has suggested that it is willing to follow a dif-
continental shelf, provided that they meet cer- ferent course.
WHY: tain conditions.
Buenos Aires hopes to The Falkland Islands are under the control of Carrots instead of sticks
draw investors in by the UK, but Argentina has claimed them as its Daniel Filmus, Argentina’s Secretary of the Mal-
offering other sites. own and calls them the Malvinas. That claim led vinas Islands, noted last week that Buenos Aires
to a brief (and undeclared) war between the two had identified five such IOCs.
WHAT NEXT: countries in 1982. All five, he said, “have been charged for oper-
The new policy may not The UK emerged as the winner of that con- ating in an area claimed by Argentina, among
draw a significant re- flict, but Argentina has continued to press its which some are from [the] UK, Italy, France and
sponse in the near term. claim on multiple fronts. It has, for example, [the] USA.”

P4 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 35 03•September•2020