British exploration companies discovered oil and gas in an offshore area north of the Falkland Islands. On 2 April, Telegraph reported that Falkland Oil and Gas, which shares the exploration area with Rockhopper and Premier Oil, said the 'Zebedee' exploration well was “better than expected.”
According to British newspaper, the oil explorers found an oil reservoir 25 metres thick and a gas deposit 17.5m thick sandwiched between sands. Samuel Moody, chief executive at Rockhopper, said: “This is a fantastic start to the 2015 Falklands drilling campaign and provides early proof of the significant remaining potential of the North Falkland Basin.” “The new discoveries add to our already significant resources we have discovered in the basin,” the chief executive added.
Many fear that the new oil and gas findings can rise the tension between the UK and Argentina. The Malvinas – as the the Falklands are called in Argentina – Islands Affairs Secretary Daniel Filmus told the public news agency Telam that the Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Planning Ministry are going to carry out a joint legal case against the oil and gas exploration.
Russian news agency RT cited an article in the Buenos Aires Herald reporting that Filmus said: “A new offshore oil platform has just arrived in the islands to carry out some of the most important exploration efforts to try to find hydrocarbons in the area, which carries a huge environmental risk. We want the owners of the companies to be tried according to Argentine laws and international statutes.”
Argentinian ambassador in the UK, Alicia Castro, strongly denied any chance of a new war between Argentina and the UK over the ownership of the Falkland Islands. She wrote on MercoPress yesterday: “Argentina will never ever again go to war over the Malvinas Islands. It was the brutal dictatorship that ruled our country in 1982 that led us into the conflict, in an attempt to cling on to its eroding power. Meanwhile, Margaret Thatcher prevented a peaceful solution in order to gain an electoral boost.”
http://www.neurope.eu/article/oil-and-gas-found-near-falkland-islands