Argentina beefs up military for Falklands

Buenos Aires (UPI) Sep 15, 2010
Argentina is beefing up its military in preparation for oil exploration in the Falklands basin concurrent with British-backed prospecting for hydrocarbons in the region nearer the islands.
Aides to President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said Argentine prospecting for hydrocarbons would begin in December -- a little more than a year after British companies started drilling for oil amid an international outcry from Buenos Aires, which contests British sovereignty over the Falklands, a British Overseas

Britain has rejected Argentine claims the Falklands or the waters are disputed territory.
Five U.K.-listed companies have drilled or announced plans to drill in Falklands' waters.

Before Argentine naval reinforcements in the area, Britain also built up its naval presence in the South Atlantic region, explaining its action as a routine exercise.

Argentina has justified its military reinforcements as part of an overall national strategy that sees the South Atlantic as Argentina's "soft belly." But Buenos Aires' pronouncements of British "neo-colonialism" and "occupation" of the Falklands have led to London viewing developments as an unwanted military escalation.


[link to www.energy-daily.com]