Rockhopper Exploration

Sea Lion lies roughly 220 kilometres north of the Falkland Islands.

British company Rockhopper is involved with that one, alongside Israeli company Navitas.

Argentine broadcaster InfoBay explains the partnership.

It's also called Sea Lion, as in Sea Lion.

Exactly.

What is Sea Lion? Welcome.

You may have heard these last few days talk about Sea Lion, about Navitas, about Rockhopper, because all these proper names have to do with a project located 220 kilometers north of the Malvinas Islands.

It is an oil extraction project developed jointly by a consortium involving Navitas Petroleum through its British subsidiary.

The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, based in Hamburg, Germany, scheduled... oral hearings for the 10th and 11th of November to examine Argentina's request for provisional measures against the United Kingdom.

Argentina launched the legal action to halt the Sea Lion offshore petroleum project operated by Rockhopper Exploration and Navitas Petroleum north of the Malvinas Islands, arguing that unilateral British drilling licenses infringe upon Argentine maritime sovereignty.

British authorities confirmed they will participate in the Hamburg hearings, though they intend to contest any attempt to adjudicate territorial sovereignty through maritime conventions.

Closer to home, the Brazilian foreign ministry delivered a sharp diplomatic rebuke to the Casa Rosada on Tuesday the 20th.

Let's move into the technicalities a bit now of the proposed Sea Lion oilfield project.

We know we have an Israeli company, Navitas Petroleum, and the UK's Rockhopper Exploration.

And they have a plan to begin extracting oil by, I guess it's 2028.

And hopefully, it estimates 50,000 barrels a day for 35 years.

The government asked the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, an independent United Nations body based in Hamburg, Germany, to halt the Sea Lion offshore oil development near the Malvinas Islands.

British operator Rockhopper Exploration and Israeli partner Navitas Petroleum plan to begin drilling in early 2027 under licenses granted by authorities on the islands and supported by the British government.

Argentina argues that these platforms violate national sovereignty over its continental shelf.

While British diplomats pushed back across the Atlantic, President Millais took off on his 19th trip to the United States for two days of business gatherings and political functions.

They didn't find anything commercial.

And then in 2010, Rockhopper comes along and hits Sea Lion, um, in the North Falkland Basin.

First commercial discovery.

Other explorers were, were poking around in the southern and eastern basins.

So Rockhopper's got this discovery.

Premier comes in as operator.

The 2015 price crash stalls things.

So, you know, if the court case, which I think is mostly based on sort of permitting and environmental grounds, or the sanctions, which you've just talked about, a- and the tie to the Riggy scheme, [laughs] if those don't-

I have, um, only really one company that I was, um, thinking about, and I'm not sure if I'm thinking about it with any kind of seriousness, um, at all.

But the company I was gonna put forward to as a replacement, Steve, is, um, Rockhopper, um, the, um, oil and gas exploration company.

They have a, a site, uh, with Navitas in the Falklands, which is probably why you went, "Oh, where have I heard that company before?" It's the one that Argentina's trying to get us to, uh, to, um, shut down.

And, um, because of that, the, the stock has actually fallen off quite, uh, quite a bit at the moment now.