The British oil and gas company Rockhopper Exploration accelerated the signing of a definitive agreement to get rid of its withdrawing partner, Harbor Energy , and formally integrate its new partner, the Israeli Navitas Petroleum, to begin exploiting the Léon project. Marino, located in front of our Malvinas, with the licenses that the British occupation government illegally sold them. Harbor Energy decided last September to abandon the project, more interested in initiatives in other latitudes.
Rockhopper and its new partner, Navitas , signed an agreement in December through which the latter purchases Premier Oil Exploration and Production Limited (POEPL), the Harbor company that owns the illegitimate licenses in Malvinas PL003, PL004, PL005, PL0032 and PL0033. “Subject to regulatory approvals, we believe this marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the Malvinas, and for the León Marino project in particular,” said Samuel Moody , CEO of Rockhopper . Navitas participates in 65% of the project, and the British company the remaining 35%. They intend to develop together the technical and financial plan for the promising development.
The new environment of international oil prices has revived enthusiasm for the enormous deposit that is located in an area where sovereignty should be under discussion. Navitas is the company that has the most experience in the execution and financing of large-scale oil developments. In fact, it will be the operator in the initiative. Its entry into the holding company is decisive to precisely promote progress in its exploitative intentions. Rockhopper reported on its website that the recent tripartite transaction “is dependent on the receipt of various agreements, consents and approvals by the Government of the Malvina Islands.”
Both companies left the door open for the incorporation of a third partner, depending on financing needs. Although Rockhopper anticipated that it will not give up its 35% participation in the project. Independent estimates indicate that León Marino and its satellite deposits contain contingent resources of approximately 520 mmbbl.
In none of the communications, internal or public, of the oil companies, is there any mention of any objection to the situation of conflict in the area they intend to exploit, by virtue of the recognized sovereign right that Argentina claims and that the United Nations supports with its resolutions.Nor in any official statement or unofficial version has any word been heard from the government of our country, headed by Alberto Fernández , denouncing the progress of such a project to loot resources that are clearly in Argentine territory.
