UK and Argentina clash over Falklands oil project at Hamburg tribunal

Britain and Argentina clashed on 10 November 2026 at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, a court in Hamburg that hears disputes over the seas, over Britain's approval of oil drilling off the Falkland Islands (The Guardian).

Argentina's legal team told the tribunal that the Sea Lion oil project must be suspended. Argentina has applied for arbitration, a process in which a dispute is decided by a tribunal rather than by the parties themselves, and is requesting urgent provisional measures. Those are temporary orders that would apply while the case is pending, and Argentina is asking that they include a UK commitment to stop the drilling.

The Falklands are a British overseas territory with 3,400 inhabitants, but Buenos Aires disputes that status. The two countries fought a war over the islands in 1982, in which 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and three Falkland Islanders died.

Argentina's case rests on a 1976 United Nations resolution. According to Argentina, Britain's approval of the Sea Lion project breaches that resolution, which calls on both parties to refrain from unilateral action, meaning steps taken by one side alone, until the sovereignty dispute is settled. Javier Oyarzabal, chief legal adviser to Argentina's ministry of foreign affairs, led the argument at the hearing. Argentina's president, Javier Milei, has condemned the project as unlawful.

The Sea Lion project is in the North Falkland basin, an area of seabed offshore from the islands. It is led by Navitas, with the British company Rockhopper as a partner. According to the same reporting, the project has the potential to triple the Falkland Islands' GDP per capita, a measure of average economic output per person.

The hearing is scheduled to last two days. The tribunal's panel is chaired by Judge Maurice Kamga of Cameroon. The UK government has allowed Sea Lion drilling to start in March 2027.