broken britain - 42% would immigrate , page-45

hope ; whats that! Remember I held gip fot way to long and lost all sight of hope.
BHP embroiled in Falklands row
By Sarah Dingle

Updated 8 hours 45 minutes ago


Disputed region: Argentina says the Falkland Islands and the surrounding seabed are its territory (AFP: Daniel Garcia, file photo)

Related Story: Chavez warns 'Mrs Queen' over Falklands rivalry Related Story: British rig drills for oil off Falklands Related Story: Argentina, UK square up over Falklands Argentina's ambassador to Australia says mining group BHP Billiton will face business sanctions if it pushes ahead with oil exploration in Falklands waters.

BHP has a licence to explore off the Falkland Islands and is scheduled to start doing so in the next four months.

But Ambassador Pedro Villagra says if the company proceeds, their business in Argentina will suffer.

"If they conduct activities they will not be allowed to carry out some activities in the Argentine territory in the mainland," he said.

Argentina says the Falkland Islands and the surrounding seabed are its territory - a claim that sparked a war between Argentina and Britain in 1982.

Argentina has never relinquished its claim, and the dispute flared again this week when a British oil exploration firm started drilling off the Falkland Islands.

BHP, in partnership with Falkland Oil and Gas Limited, holds 14 exploration and production licences for the East Falkland Basin - licences which have brought Argentina's wrath to Australia.

Ambassador Villagra says Argentina first officially warned BHP when they began talks with Falkland Oil and Gas Limited in 2007.

"Normally these letters are called letters of discomfort and advises any company that is engaging in these kind of activities of what might the consequences be for Argentine law," he said.

"The communications simply advised BHP - BHP Petroleum in this case - that they should not engage in any acts of exploration, of exploitation unilaterally called by Great Britain.

"And if they decide to pursue this they may [incur] the sanctions that the Argentine law foresees for this kind of operation."

BHP does not currently have any operations in Argentina but has in the past held stakes in gold and copper mining projects.

The miner is one of several companies prospecting for oil off the coast of the Falkland Islands this year.

The first of these, Desire Petroleum, began its explorations this week, with BHP and its minority share partner Falkland Oil and Gas Limited set to follow suit within four months.


Argentina rallies support

Argentina presented its concerns to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon yesterday, and at the Rio Group summit this week secured the backing of 32 nations for Argentine sovereignty over the islands.

"The resolution just adopted in the meetings this week had the support of all the member countries of the Caribbean and Latin America, and that includes all the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean," Ambassador Villagra said.

"We will keep pursuing the claim of the Argentine sovereignty of the islands.

"We will do this peacefully and try to get Britain to negotiate."

A Latin American politics expert, Dr Jeffrey Browitt of Sydney's University of Technology, says the Argentines have never forgiven or forgotten.

"They see this drilling of oil by anyone, whether it's BHP or not, as an attack on their national sovereignty," he said.

"And BHP is going to find itself caught up in this diplomatically, I think, one way or another.

"Britain gets very hairy-chested about the Falklands and so they will back any UK-based company wanting to do business there.

"What further complicates the thing is that the United States, as a general global political partner of Great Britain, has refused to endorse British claims to sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.

"It doesn't say it's endorsed Argentina's either. The US is standing back because they do not want to anger their Latin American neighbours to the south."

Argentina's president, Cristina Kirchner, will meet with the US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, on Monday to seek the US's backing for their case.

Ambassador Villagra says until there is a diplomatic solution, all companies should cease oil exploration off the Falklands.

Geologists estimate there are up to 60 billion barrels of oil under the seabed near the islands.