Exclusive: Legal notice comes as Buenos Aires ramps up rhetoric over UK territory and seeks to halt Sea Lion project
The Argentinian government threatened a British businessman involved in an offshore Falkland Islands oil project with jail, the Guardian can reveal.
Sam Moody, the chief executive of Rockhopper Exploration, and his company’s chief financial officer received the correspondence this autumn as Buenos Aires began ramping up its rhetoric over the British overseas territory.
“As recently as 1 September 2026, Argentina wrote to me and Rockhopper’s chief financial officer personally threatening us with criminal prosecution, imprisonment and fines under its domestic legislation,” Moody said.
The disclosure was made in a witness statement submitted by the UK to the international tribunal for the law of the sea (Itlos) before two days of hearings that were held this week. The sealed document was made available for viewing after an application by the Guardian.
Argentina is seeking an order from Itlos for the urgent suspension of drilling at the Sea Lion off-shore oil project north of the Falklands, which is being led by Rockhopper, a British firm, and Navitas, an Israeli company.
Buenos Aires has passed domestic legislation criminalising the project and in Moody’s statement to the tribunal, the oil executive also said he believed there was a risk in him engaging with the…
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