Argentina fury at UK bid for Falkland seas

Argentina has reacted furiously to plans by Britain to lay claim to vast new tracts of potentially oil and gas-rich territories in the seas off the Falklands.

In a move likely to add new heat to the long-running diplomatic dispute, British officials are preparing to submit a bid to the United Nations to prove that thousands of extra square miles of the surrounding ocean floor are geographically part of the islands.
The claim follows a new approach in international law which holds that a nation’s legitimately-held territory can extend up to 350 miles from its coast, if it can verify that it is part of the shoreline’s underlying continental shelf.

In the case of the Falklands, that could extend the zone of British exploration rights on the seabed well beyond its existing 200-mile boundary, bringing it into direct conflict with Argentinian claims the other way.

Last night, after details of the legal submission were revealed by British government lawyers, the Argentinian government said it would fight the application vigorously.

Ruperto Godoy, the Argentinian State deputy who is president of a parliamentary group set up to lobby on his government’s continued claim to sovereignty over the islands, told The Sunday Telegraph: “We are completely opposed to this proposition of the UK government to extend its territories. We want to restart dialogue about the Falklands, but the British are ignoring this position.

“It is correct that this area has a high potential for energy resource exploration, but we will not stop from our position of reclaiming our islands.”

Daily Telegraph