The story of Production License PL001 —the 1,126 km² block in the illegitimate British North Malvina Basin that holds more than 1.3 billion barrels—did not begin with the recent stock market maneuvers of Israel's Navitas Petroleum or Canada's Eco Atlantic . Its regulatory origins date back to the policy of diplomatic rapprochement promoted during the 1990s under the government of Carlos Menem and Guido Di Tella 's tenure at the Argentine Foreign Ministry.

The "Umbrella of Sovereignty" and the 1995 Declaration

Following the re-establishment of diplomatic relations with the United Kingdom under the "sovereignty umbrella" framework (Madrid Agreements of 1989 and 1990), the diplomacy of both nations sought to guide hydrocarbon exploration in the South Atlantic. The political milestone of this process was formalized on September 27, 1995 , when Di Tella and the British Foreign Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind , signed the "Joint Declaration on Cooperation in Offshore Activities in the Southwest Atlantic."

New York, September 27, 1995. Signing of the Joint Declaration on Cooperation in Offshore Activities in the Southwest Atlantic . Seated (Principal Signatories) Malcolm Rifkind (left, with glasses, signing): UK Foreign Secretary. Guido Di Tella (right, signing): Minister of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship of the Argentine Republic. (Leaning to the sides of the table) Fernando Petrella (leaning right, assisting Di Tella): Deputy Foreign Minister of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs. British Assistant (leaning left, assisting Rifkind): Member of the Private Secretariat of the Foreign Office .

Standing in the back row (Argentine and British political and diplomatic delegation). From left to right in the top row: Sir David Hannay (far left): Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations. Miguel Ángel Toma (second from the left): National Deputy for the Federal Capital and then President of the Defense Committee of the Chamber of Deputies. Raul Granillo Ocampo (third from the left): Argentine Ambassador to the United States. José Arturo Estabillo (center, behind the signatories): Governor of the Province of Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and the South Atlantic Islands. Alastair Goodlad (fourth from the left, with a mustache): Minister of State for Parliamentary and Overseas Affairs at the British Foreign Office . Emilio Cárdenas (fifth from the left, standing on the right): Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Argentine Republic to the United Nations. Members of the technical/diplomatic delegation (at the far right in the back): Legal and diplomatic advisors from the Argentine Foreign Ministry and the San Martín Palace who were part of the official delegation in New York.

Although the text was intended to frame the activities within a framework of bilateral cooperation, the United Kingdom and the illegitimate government installed in the islands used the approach to give a veneer of international legal predictability and unilaterally launch the First Offshore Bidding Round in October 1995.

The initial award of 1997 and the transnational withdrawal

Taking advantage of the close ties of the era, the oil corporations responded to the colonial invitation. On June 2, 1997, license PL001 was formally granted to an international consortium led by the American company Amerada Hess , in which Shell, Lasmo , and the local firm Argos Resources Limited also participated.

However, after drilling two exploratory wells in 1998 that yielded no immediate commercial results, the multinationals abandoned the project. Ownership of the block remained 100% in the hands of Argos Resources , which retained the rights for more than 25 years through successive extensions granted by the colonial administration. Unable to finance further wells independently, the license entered a cycle of sale and financial speculation.

The chain of transfers to the present day

To reconstruct the history of block PL001 —from its initial award in the late nineties to its recent capture by the tandem formed by the Israeli Navitas Petroleum and the multinational Eco Atlantic— , it was necessary to find official information from audited balance sheets and stock market reports submitted to the stock markets of London, Toronto and Tel Aviv.

The trail of plunder on this 1,126-square-kilometer block begins between 1996 and 1998. According to records from the Department of Mineral Resources of the islands' colonial government, Production License PL001 was formally awarded on June 2, 1997, to a consortium operated by the US-based Amerada Hess, supported by Shell, Lasmo, and the local firm Argos Resources Limited . Specialized publications such as Oil & Gas Journal , Offshore Magazine , and Upstream Online reported in 1998 on Amerada Hess's subsequent abandonment of the area after an initial unsuccessful exploration campaign, leaving Argos Resources , based in Puerto Argentino, with 100% control of the block's rights.

During the period between 2010 and 2022, the history of the field was closely tied to Argos Resources ' market presentations on the London Stock Exchange (AIM). In its official report of July 2010, the company detailed its absolute ownership of license PL001 , showcasing the first 3D seismic surveys that identified key structures such as Tyche and Dinlas . Subsequently, the audited financial statements that the oil company submitted annually to the London market recorded the continuous extensions of the concession granted unilaterally by the occupation administration.

The process of transnational transfers accelerated markedly in 2023. Through the Regulatory News Service (RNS) of the London Stock Exchange, Argos announced on May 3 of that year the sale of license PL001 to the Canadian company JHI Associates Inc. for £303,500 in cash (approximately US $380,000 at the exchange rate at the time) and a package of 8.46 million shares . Following shareholder approval in May and coverage of the transfer on portals such as Energy Voice and Offshore Energy , Argos officially cancelled its shares and entered voluntary liquidation in September 2023, having sold its only asset in the South Atlantic.

The final phase of the corporate consolidation was completed in the first half of 2026. As stated in Note 7D (9) to Navitas Petroleum's Consolidated Financial Statements as of December 31, 2025 —approved in Tel Aviv on March 17, 2026, and certified by the auditing firm EY — the Israeli oil company finalized an agreement on February 27, 2026, to assume 65% operating control of PL001, committing USD 14 million in financing for drilling operations . The hydrocarbon potential of this area was formally supported by the consulting firm Sewell & Associates, Inc. (NSAI), which certified more than 1.3 billion barrels of potential resources distributed across the block.

Finally, corporate communications filed with the Toronto (TSX-V) and London (AIM) stock exchanges confirmed that on May 18, 2026, the shareholders' meeting and the Ontario courts authorized the full absorption of JHI Associates Inc. by Eco (Atlantic) Oil & Gas Ltd., consolidating the remaining 35% stake in license PL001 and thus closing the network of companies that today propose to exploit the North Malvinas Basin.