The controversy surrounding the British-flagged tanker VS PROMISE took a decisive operational turn late Monday. After remaining moored at the Ushuaia commercial dock for approximately fourteen hours, the tanker cast off at 9:07 PM last night and headed for the Atlantic Ocean, bound directly for the Río Cullen marine monobuoy (AR RIC) in the north of Isla Grande.

According to real-time records from the satellite positioning system (AIS) provided by Marinetraffic , the vessel sailed through the Beagle Channel at a speed of 12.1 knots , heading east (096°), estimating its arrival at the oil terminal for this Tuesday, August 25 at 7:00 p.m.

Second attempt to complete the shipment

The tanker's departure from Ushuaia to Cullen confirms the operational purpose of its presence in Tierra del Fuego waters: the tanker will return to its mooring point to complete the pumping of crude oil from the offshore fields of the Austral Marine Basin. This operation, for undisclosed reasons, could not be completed during its initial stay off the North Atlantic coast, from where it had departed on August 13.

The vessel, registered in the British dependency of the Isle of Man (IMO 9351438) and with the capacity to hold more than 500,000 barrels of crude oil in its holds, is preparing to receive the crude oil extracted by the consortium operated by the French company TotalEnergies and made up of Pan American Energy (PAE) and the German company Wintershall Dea ; whose exploration and production assets were absorbed internationally by the British company Harbour Energy .

The crossroads of the Fuegian government

The return of the VS PROMISE to the Cullen monobuoy presents the provincial administration with an unavoidable contradiction. Yesterday, the Tierra del Fuego government issued an official statement denouncing the ship's presence at the Ushuaia dock and blaming the federal intervention of the National Ports and Navigation Agency (ANPyN) for allowing a British-flagged vessel to enter the port.

However, less than 24 hours after that ruling, the vessel returned to the direct regulatory jurisdiction of the Tierra del Fuego Hydrocarbons Secretariat , in accordance with the current legal framework ("Short Law" No. 26,197):

1.    Authorization and inspection of cargo: The pumping of provincial hydrocarbons at the marine monobuoy requires technical and environmental supervision from the provincial energy portfolio.

2.    Certificate of Origin: The customs and commercial clearance for the oil tanker to export the cargo inexorably requires the signature of the Certificate of Origin issued by the Fuegian State, a document that settles the royalties and certifies the origin of the resource.

The tanker's rapid passage through Ushuaia and its immediate return to the facilities operated by the international consortium expose an eloquent reality: while the conflict over the British flag was resolved in the realm of public statements, hydrocarbon logistics continues its administrative course in the north of the province without the local authorities having clarified whether they will validate with their signature the shipment of Fuegian crude on a British vessel.