Falklands oil row steps up a gear

24th Feb 2010 14:26

Argentina is cranking up the pressure on Britain as the diplomatic row over sovereignty of the Falkland Islands and its potentially vast oil reserves intensifies.Fellow South American states backed attempts by Buenos Aires to stop the UK drilling near the remote islands when they met at the Rio Group summit in Mexico yesterday.Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega both called on Britain to hand the Falklands over to the Argentines, while Brazilian president Lula da Silva criticised the UN for not dealing with the sovereignty issue. Desire Petroleum started up its Ocean Guardian rig, its first well in the area, earlier this week. It will take 30 days to hit its target of 3,500 metres.Argentina's foreign minister is meeting United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon later today to discuss developments. The country, led by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, submitted a claim to the UN last year for a massive area of ocean that included the Falklands. It went to war with Britain over ownership of the 'Malvinas', just 300 miles from its shores, in 1982, and recently attempted to impose shipping restrictions there. As much as 60 billion barrels of oil could sit beneath the ocean around the islands, although the amount recoverable would likely be much smaller and oil won't be flowing for many years. UK Foreign Office minister Chris Bryant believes there is "no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands. We're also clear that the Falkland Islands Government is entitled to develop a hydrocarbons industry within its waters.""We remain focused on supporting the Falkland Islands Government in developing this legitimate business in its territory," he said in a statement published on the Foreign Office website."Argentina's reaction so far has been entirely predictable. Argentina has not undermined the work that we can do with our friends in Brazil or in Uruguay or in Chile or in any of the other countries of Latin America."