Falkland Islands Tension increase

[wednesday1 10]

So you believe that the only people who deserve self determination are those that can afford to pay for it?

 

 

If it wasn't for the oil then the cost of maintaining the Falklands is too great for the UK taxpayer IMO. Maybe Lord Ashcroft could pay for them?

[JFKvsNixon 11]

If it wasn't for the oil then the cost of maintaining the Falklands is too great for the UK taxpayer IMO. Maybe Lord Ashcroft could pay for them?

 

Maybe we should have saved some of the money spent on the war in Iraq? Damn that last government eh?

[Conrod 10]

Our involvement down there has nothing to do with the wishes of the Falkland Islanders, the penguins or the sheep, it's all about OIL, . . . . .

 

30 years ago it wasn't known oil was there, . . .. .

 

True, but it is known now,.

So clearly the reason we first sent a task force was not 'all about oil'.

 

And it isn't now.

[alchresearch 213]

So clearly the reason we first sent a task force was not 'all about oil'.

 

And it isn't now.

 

Get ready, next thing they'll be saying is that it's all warmongering on the UKs part to distract from a flagging government!

[Tony 10]

So you believe that the only people who deserve self determination are those that can afford to pay for it?

Remember, they may be British citizens in the Falklands, but they don't vote Labour.

[JFKvsNixon 11]

Remember, they may be British citizens in the Falklands, but they don't vote Labour.

 

Maybe there's an opening for someone to go down there to start a Labour Party? Also, wednesday1 could also put forward their idea to a few Falkland Islanders about discussing their future with Argentina, it would be interesting to see how that went.

[mapleboy 10]

After the UN Chief calls the calm, Argentina ignores him and starts claiming that we've got a boomer pootling around off their coastline...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16993391

Not that such an occurence is something that the UK would ever confirm or deny of course.

 

Unless CMD were to subtly ask the Argentine ambassador "What's the highest SPF sunscreen sold in Buenos Aires?" :hihi:

 

An invasion by Argentina is not a militarily realistic proposition. But a failed invasion may be just the ticket for President Kirchner - it gives her an excuse to wave the bloody shirt and crack down on domestic opposition as the wheels come off of the economy. Would she be that stupid?

[Annoni_mouse 10]

I'm sure that if the positions were reversed and Britain was demanding sovereignty over a collection of islands which although (relatively) geographically closer had no British people living there and we had no justifiable historical claims to, the same people who are so adamant that we should discuss sovereignty with Argentina would be outraged by our claims.

 

Equally, if the war in '82 had been waged by any other PM than Thatcher, I doubt there would be anything like the bile and ill educated vitriol spewed about it and the ongoing situation.

[wednesday1 10]

So clearly the reason we first sent a task force was not 'all about oil'.

 

And it isn't now.

 

 

Time to get real, from today's Telegraph:

 

Falklands oilfields could yield $176bn tax windfall

The Falkland Islands stand to benefit from an enormous $176bn (£111.7bn) tax windfall from oil and gas exploration, according to a major new report.

 

A report predicts the potential tax riches for Falklands Islands oilfields are likely to reach just shy of $180bn.

By Nathalie Thomas

9:30PM GMT 11 Feb 2012

294 Comments

A study to be handed to the UK Government this week will lay bare the potential riches on offer from drilling in waters within the 200-mile exclusion zone set up during the 1980s Falklands War to mark the boundaries of British territory.

 

A group of UK-listed companies is involved in exploring four major prospects this year, with the largest, Loligo, potentially holding more than 4.7bn barrels of oil. By comparison Catcher, the biggest discovery in the North Sea of the past 11 years, is believed to hold only 300m barrels.

 

The report by oil and gas analysts at Edison Investment Research predicts that if all four prospects were drilled, the potential tax riches are likely to reach just shy of $180bn.

 

At present, the Falklands’ main industry is fishing, which generates just $23m a year. Beyond that, the territory receives only $16m in tax receipts a year from other business sectors.

 

The most developed prospect, Sea Lion, already appraised by Salisbury-based Rockhopper Exploration, is forecast to produce 448m barrels over the next 20 years.

 

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Ian McLelland, co-author of the report, said the opportunity offered by the seas around the islands is colossal: “With current tax and fishing incomes in the region of $40m , the islands look set to be transformed by the oil industry.”

 

But he cautioned that the recent political posturing by Argentina could prove a major barrier to securing the vital investment needed to get the prospects to where they are actually producing oil.

 

“The proverbial spanner in the works that remains is the ongoing political dispute between Britain and Argentina regarding sovereignty of the Falklands,” he said.

[Annoni_mouse 10]

Time to get real, from today's Telegraph:

 

Falklands oilfields could yield $176bn tax windfall

The Falkland Islands stand to benefit from an enormous $176bn (£111.7bn) tax windfall from oil and gas exploration, according to a major new report.

 

A report predicts the potential tax riches for Falklands Islands oilfields are likely to reach just shy of $180bn.

By Nathalie Thomas

9:30PM GMT 11 Feb 2012

294 Comments

A study to be handed to the UK Government this week will lay bare the potential riches on offer from drilling in waters within the 200-mile exclusion zone set up during the 1980s Falklands War to mark the boundaries of British territory.

 

A group of UK-listed companies is involved in exploring four major prospects this year, with the largest, Loligo, potentially holding more than 4.7bn barrels of oil. By comparison Catcher, the biggest discovery in the North Sea of the past 11 years, is believed to hold only 300m barrels.

 

The report by oil and gas analysts at Edison Investment Research predicts that if all four prospects were drilled, the potential tax riches are likely to reach just shy of $180bn.

 

At present, the Falklands’ main industry is fishing, which generates just $23m a year. Beyond that, the territory receives only $16m in tax receipts a year from other business sectors.

 

The most developed prospect, Sea Lion, already appraised by Salisbury-based Rockhopper Exploration, is forecast to produce 448m barrels over the next 20 years.

 

Related Articles

Argentina accuses UK of sending nuclear missiles

11 Feb 2012

Rockhopper ups Falklands oil estimates - again

11 Oct 2011

Falklands oil: who are the main explorers?

04 Apr 2011

 

Ian McLelland, co-author of the report, said the opportunity offered by the seas around the islands is colossal: “With current tax and fishing incomes in the region of $40m , the islands look set to be transformed by the oil industry.”

 

But he cautioned that the recent political posturing by Argentina could prove a major barrier to securing the vital investment needed to get the prospects to where they are actually producing oil.

 

“The proverbial spanner in the works that remains is the ongoing political dispute between Britain and Argentina regarding sovereignty of the Falklands,” he said.

 

Fascinating. Except that it's Argentina and not us that is ramping up the rhetoric and posturing. So if any nation has their eyes on cynicaly expoiting the islands new found mineral wealth, surely it's the Argentinians and not us?

 

Or let me guess, we've actually manufactured the latest 'situation' in order to justify an increased military presence in the region under the pretext of protecting the islanders rights while all the time guarding the evil oil companies real objectives down there right?

[JFKvsNixon 11]

Time to get real, from today's Telegraph:

 

Falklands oilfields could yield $176bn tax windfall

 

There you go then, a couple of posts ago you when you were asked whether you backed the Falkland Islanders right to self determination you said:

 

As long as they're prepared to pay for it!

 

Well as you've found out they can!

[Rupert_Baehr 10]

True, but it is known now, there have been several successful drillings and It is rumoured that the amounts of oil down there have been deliberately down-played, so as not to encourage the Argentinians.

It is 30 years on from the initial conflict and I honestly think that if it was not for the oil, we would enter into discussions with Argentina re: longer term sovereignty.

 

Has it been downplayed? I seem to remember reading (in the mid 1980s) that the oil reserves there were 'significant'.

 

Not only are there oil reserves, the fish stocks there and off the UK territories in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands are also very large.

 

Next thing you know, the Argentinians will be claiming that they invented sandwiches!