Argentina says it will impose sanctions on oil companies operating in Falklands

4 September 2026

In a presidential address on 3 September 2026, Argentinian President Javier Milei has said Argentina will impose sanctions on oil companies operating in the Falkland Islands. The announcement follows a decision by Navitas Petroleum and Rockhopper Exploration to begin offshore oil production on the Sea Lion field.

The Falkland Islands is a British overseas territory 500km off the Argentinian coast over which Argentina claims sovereignty. In his address, President Milei said he has signed a decree and will send a bill to Congress amending Argentina's continental shelf hydrocarbons law, Law 26,659 (2011), to facilitate sanctions against companies operating without Argentinian authorisation. Shareholders, directors and suppliers may also be caught, and designated companies barred from operating or contracting in Argentina.

Argentina does not maintain an autonomous sanctions regime. It gives effect to UN Security Council measures through Decree 1521/2004 and maintains the RePET terrorism financing register. The proposed sanctions will instead operate through Law 26,659, which will be amended to authorise the sanctions. It currently prohibits unauthorised hydrocarbon activity on the Argentine continental shelf, enforced by criminal penalties and exclusion from trading with the Argentinian market. Argentina banned four British oil companies from operating in Argentina for 20 years in 2012 under the same law.

The decree and bill texts to amend Law 26,659 remain unpublished.