Declassified files reveal British interest in Falkland Islands oil & More News Here

British ministers have been eager to take advantage of oil across the Falkland Islands earlier than and after the 1982 battle, declassified British authorities paperwork present.

In a beforehand unpublished letter, the previous chancellor Norman Lamont mentioned the revenues from Falklands oil ought to go to the British authorities, not the Falkland islanders.

“I have no doubt that in the event of a major oil find, tax revenues should accrue to the UK exchequer. That seems to me only equitable given the very substantial financial as well as other sacrifices that the UK has made … to secure the freedom of the Falkland Islands,” Lamont wrote to the then international secretary, Douglas Hurd, on 21 October 1991.

Lamont added: “We would not want to give credence to the accusation that our Falkland Islands operation was motivated by a belief that there was oil to be found in Falklands waters, which would be quite untrue.”

Nevertheless, he and different cupboard ministers, together with the prime minister, John Major, and Hurd, agreed that Britain ought to get the majority of any oil revenues, approving a 1991 abroad and defence coverage cupboard committee paper that said: “If oil were to be found in commercially recoverable quantities, HMG [Her Majesty’s Government] … should take such measures as are necessary to ensure that HMG can secure access to a substantial share of the concomitant revenues.”

The paper requested: “Should the Falkland islanders be the exclusive beneficiaries of what might be comparatively enormous wealth?” It concluded: “We should only seek access to oil-related revenues when it is clear that the financial benefits will outweigh the political difficulties.”

Ministers agreed to authorise the islanders to hold out seismic surveys to ascertain the dimensions of the oil deposits after which resolve the best way to share the revenues. On 22 November 1991, Britain proclaimed its proper to as much as 200 nautical miles of the seabed and subsoil across the islands. The Falkland Islands authorities started to public sale oil exploration licences in 1996, however all of the revenues since then have accrued to the Falklands authorities, not Britain.

Official papers for the years after 1991 haven’t but been declassified, however the end result means that the British authorities concluded that the worth of the oil revenues didn’t outweigh the political embarrassment of claiming them.

Declassified paperwork present that Britain has lengthy been in oil across the Falkland Islands. In 1975, an power division official wrote: “Our ministers are very interested in the possibility of exploiting offshore oil around the Falkland Islands.”

Before the Falklands conflict, Britain vigorously defended its declare to potential oil reserves across the islands. Britain formally protested when Argentina commissioned seismic surveys off the Argentine coast in early 1977. An power division official wrote that the “worst thing would be to do nothing” as this might result in “our giving up without so much as a whisper the title to any oil which might lie beneath the sea outside the 200-metres line”.

Britain protested once more in 1981 when Argentina auctioned extra exploration licences. A Foreign Office official wrote: “We must maintain that any oil in the Falkland Islands continental shelf is British, without specifying whether we mean HMG or Falkland Islands have the right to exploit it. The important point is that it is ours not Argentine.”

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In July 1980, Margaret Thatcher’s authorities held secret talks with Argentina and proposed a “leaseback” deal, whereby the sovereignty of the islands could be transferred to Argentina however then leased again to Britain.

While ministers have been contemplating the concept, the power secretary, David Howell, wrote to the international secretary, Lord Carrington, on 5 February 1980, saying: “I hope … you will not lose sight of retaining, if at all possible, access for the UK to any oil or gas which might be found in Falkland Island waters.”

He repeated this plea in a letter to Thatcher later that month. The cupboard’s defence and oversea coverage committee, which included Thatcher, agreed on 7 November 1980 to hunt the islanders’ approval of a leaseback deal.

Ministers famous: “It would be important to make satisfactory arrangements for any oil that might be discovered … Further thought should be given to ways in which the United Kingdom might be guaranteed entitlement to a substantial part of the revenues.”

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