Oil hunters invade the Falklands

Rising prices are tempting explorers back to the waters of the south Atlantic

For two months a sky-blue tug boat has been puttering across the Atlantic dragging a 14,400-tonne oil rig.

It has been slow going

It will be a big occasion. Twelve years have passed since oil companies last went prospecting round the Falklands, 300 miles off the coast of Argentina.

All but one of the half-dozen wells that were drilled by Shell and others in the 1998 campaign showed signs of oil. In those days, though, the oil price was hovering around $10 a barrel, making it uneconomic to develop fields in such a remote location.

There was cheaper oil elsewhere. Talk of production also angered Argentina, which disputes Britain