Argentina on Monday declared "illegal" the oil exploration by five British companies near the Falkland Islands, which Buenos Aires long has claimed as part of its territory. The companies' activities "proved to be illegal and clandestine, as they're taking place in a sovereign area of the Argentine nation and as such fall within its specified laws and rules," President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said on her official website.
The Buenos Aires government announced mid-March that it would seek civil and criminal legal action against the companies at the heart of the accusations. Energy Secretary Daniel Cameron meanwhile published five resolutions in Argentina's Official Bulletin declaring activities by the companies "illegal" and "clandestine."
The companies - Desire Petroleum, Falkland Oil and Gas, Rockhopper Exploration, Borders and Southern Petroleum and Argos Resources - "are not authorised by the Argentine government under law 17.319 on hydrocarbons," the resolutions read, The small oil exploration concerns that have searched for undersea reserves off the Falklands since 2010. Only Rockhopper has discovered oil so far.
Britain has ruled the Falkland islands, off the coast of Argentina - called the Malvinas here - since 1833. Thirty years after the Falklands War, tensions between Argentina and Britain are still high. Argentina's 1982 invasion of the remote islands triggered a 74-day war, which ended in a humiliating defeat for Argentina after British prime minister Margaret Thatcher sent in a naval task force to reclaim the archipelago. The conflict cost the lives of 649 Argentine and 255 British troops.
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