The Argentinian government has threatened a British businessman involved in an offshore Falkland Islands oil project with jail and financial penalties. Sam Moody, the chief executive of Rockhopper Exploration, and his company chief financial officer received the correspondence this autumn.
Buenos Aires began ramping up its rhetoric over the British overseas territory as part of its ongoing sovereignty dispute. Moody detailed the threats in a witness statement submitted by the UK to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Itlos) ahead of two days of hearings.
As recently as September 2026, Argentina wrote to Moody and Rockhopper’s chief financial officer personally threatening them with criminal prosecution, imprisonment, and fines under domestic legislation. The oil executive stated to the tribunal that he was taking personal risk by preparing his statement due to the repeated threats of a custodial sentence.
Argentina is seeking an order from Itlos for the urgent suspension of drilling at the Sea Lion offshore oil project north of the Falklands. The venture is led by British firm Rockhopper and Israeli company Navitas.
Buenos Aires has passed domestic legislation criminalising the project. Moody listed a series of actions taken by Buenos Aires that he said made it increasingly difficult to finance Sea Lion, including Argentina banning Navitas from operating in the country for twenty years.
Argentinian officials also wrote to Standard Chartered bank, which has a branch in Port Stanley, urging it to refrain from participating in oil and gas development in the Falkland Islands. They warned the bank to avoid falling within the terms of certain Argentine domestic legislation.
Navitas and Rockhopper did not name their partners in court documents for fear of Argentinian retribution. Ian Ramsay, the chief executive of Navitas Petroleum Development and Production, stated that contractor names were withheld to preserve confidentiality in light of ongoing scrutiny and efforts by authorities to frustrate the project.
The US firm Halliburton recently issued a statement saying it would not conduct any work on the Sea Lion project after discussions with Argentina. The UK government previously wrote to Interpol seeking reassurance that the international law enforcement agency would not act on any Argentinian red notices requesting the arrest of individuals deemed criminal by Buenos Aires for involvement in the Falklands economy.
Argentina argues that Britain’s agreement to drilling is illegal because the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands is a matter of dispute. Buenos Aires seeks a temporary suspension of the project before further arbitration, claiming that oil drilling is aggravating the sovereignty dispute.
The UK told the tribunal that Itlos did not have jurisdiction in the dispute and that the UN resolution cited was not legally binding. Ellie Reeves, the attorney general for England and Wales, told the tribunal that suspending the oil project would be terminal to its hopes of success with devastating consequences for the people on the islands.
The Sea Lion project is expected to double the island’s GDP and provide an eight billion pound uplift in revenues for the Falkland government. Jack Ford, chair of the Falkland Islands legislative assembly, told the tribunal that the impact of the collapse of the project would be felt socially and economically across the whole territory.
Argentinian President Javier Milei told the UN general assembly in September that reclaiming the sovereignty of the Falklands, known as the Malvinas in Argentina, was a national cause. An Itlos ruling on Argentina’s application for suspension is expected on 28 November.
