Argentine judge halts British-Israeli oil drilling near the Falklands

An Argentine judge issued an interim order from a court in the southern province of Tierra del Fuego, mandating that Rockhopper Exploration and Israel’s Navitas Petroleum suspend all activities at the Sea Lion oilfield, located about 220 km from the Falkland Islands. The injunction bars drilling, infrastructure installation, or hydrocarbon extraction until a formal environmental impact assessment is carried out by the competent national authority.

Plaintiffs, including 1982 war veterans and environmental attorneys, filed the suit earlier this month, and the judge has allowed ten days for the companies to provide information on the project's status, contractors, and financiers. President Javier Milei’s administration has separately taken legal action, claiming the project violates a United Nations resolution that calls for a halt to unilateral actions pending a settlement of the sovereignty dispute.

The decision follows heightened Argentine diplomatic pressure after U.S. President Donald Trump signaled openness to revisiting Washington’s neutral stance on the islands. Britain maintains that the Falklands are British territory and rejects Argentine jurisdiction over the area.