Tensions rise as oil drilling operation begins off Falklands

TENSIONS between the UK and Argentina mounted as a British oil rig began drilling off the Falkland Islands yesterday.

Defence minister Bill Rammell said the UK government would take "whatever steps are necessary" to protect the islands, which had a "legitimate right" to develop an oil industry within its waters.

British exploration company Desire Petroleum's platform, Ocean Guardian, has been towed 8,000 miles from Scotland to the south Atlantic isles for the exploration.

Argentina has formally objected to the move and tightened shipping regulations in the region.

At question time in the Commons yesterday, Mr Rammell said: "There has been no change whatsoever to our policy. and we have no doubt whatsoever about the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, and no change in our support to their legitimate right to develop a hydrocarbon industry within its waters.

"We do, we have and we will take whatever steps are necessary to protect the Falkland Islands, and our counterparts in Argentina are aware of that."

Mr Rammell pledged to protect the islands and added: "We do continue to have a bilateral relationship and we use every effort to get those messages across."

Desire Petroleum said in a statement: "The well is being drilled to an estimated target depth of circa 3,500m (11,500ft). Drilling operations are expected to take approximately 30 days."

A spokesman said the rig was sitting "firmly inside UK waters".

The company is operating about 60 miles north of the main archipelago, where it estimates there are 3.5 billion barrels of recoverable oil, as well as nine trillion cubic feet of gas.

Argentina's president, Cristina Fernandez, maintains the Falklands – coveted as Las Malvinas by Buenos Aires – are occupied by Britain illegally. She also said the UK had failed to comply with United Nations resolutions requiring negotiations on their future.