Tierra del Fuego Judge Orders Suspension of Falklands' Sea Lion Oil Project

Judge Mariel Borruto of a Tierra del Fuego provincial court issued an interim injunction ordering the suspension of Rockhopper Exploration (UK) and Navitas Petroleum's (Israel) Sea Lion oil project in the North Falkland Basin, barring drilling, offshore installations, and port construction pending an Argentine environmental review. The ruling followed a lawsuit filed earlier in the month by 1982 Malvinas War veterans and environmental lawyers. Legal analysts described the order as largely symbolic and unlikely to halt progress on the project in practice, since it falls outside Argentina's enforcement reach in the British-administered islands.