Argentina threatens UK oil firm CEO with jail over Falklands drilling

Detailed summary

Exclusive: Legal notice comes as Buenos Aires ramps up rhetoric over UK territory and seeks to halt Sea Lion projectThe Argentinian government threatened a British businessman…

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 offshore 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 hearing in Hamburg.

“I also want the tribunal to be aware that I, in common with others, [am] taking some personal risk by preparing the statement as I have repeatedly been under threat of criminal prosecution and a custodial sentence in Argentina,” he wrote.

Moody’s submission listed a series of other actions taken by Buenos Aires that he said had made it increasingly difficult to finance Sea Lion. They included Argentina banning Navitas from operating in the country for 20 years.

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