Argentina 'cannot rule out' Falklands oil claim
Updated on 20 February 2010
The row over drilling for oil off the Falklands steps up as Argentina says it cannot rule out further measures to reclaim what is rightfully theirs.
The row over oil exploration near the Falkland Islands is heating up as Argentina vowed further action to stop foreign countries accessing what it claims are its natural resources.
The country's deputy foreign minister has told Channel 4 News he cannot rule out further measures to reclaim what he says rightfully belongs to Argentina, including the islands themselves.
Yesterday, the UK oil rig Ocean Guardian, which is at the centre of the feud, arrived in the South Atlantic to begin drilling within the next 24 hours.
The Argentinean foreign minister says any drilling activity in the sea surrounding the Falkland Islands is illegal; the British government rejects that.
The Governor of the Falkland Islands, Alan Huckle, told Channel 4 News that the Argentinean government will not stop the oil exploration work now in progress.
"I don't think there is any threat of any sort of hostility or anything like that," he said. "Nor, quite frankly, is there going to be any difficulty, at least with this first round of drilling."
But Argentina's deputy foreign minister, Victorio Taccetti, said his country is prepared to go further still.
"Faced with a unilateral act which we deem illegitimate, we will take measures to defend our sovereignty; these are always peaceful measures," he said.
Argentina exercises its sovereign rights over an "exclusive economic zone", reaching 200 miles from its shores.
But it also claims sovereignty over a much larger area - the South Atlantic Continental shelf, which includes the Falkland Islands.
Last week, the Thor Leader, a ship reportedly carrying drilling equipment, was seized in the Argentine port of Campana. The Argentinean government has also banned ships from going to and from the Falkland islands via its waters - a move that seems popular on the streets of Buenos Aires.
But Emma Edwards, the oil portfolio representative who is responsible for oil on the Islands, said: "The oil belongs to the Falkland Islanders, and the oil does belong to us first.
"We will look after our own infrastructure - ensure that we've got the roads, the hospitals, the education that we need, plus reserves so we can keep ourselves going after any oil has gone."
