Conclusive documentary evidence definitively dismantles the narrative of Gustavo Melella 's government regarding the operation of the British-flagged tanker VS PROMISE . While official statements attempted to confine the controversy to the intervened dock in Ushuaia, and the Secretariat of Hydrocarbons claimed to have no access to the vessel's records, Agenda Malvinas obtained an internal official memo from the Provincial Port Authority (DPP) certifying that the Tierra del Fuego port authority not only inspected and registered the tanker at the northern single-point mooring buoy of Río Cullen , but also ordered the invoicing and collection of fees for its days of stay and for the exact tonnage of crude oil loaded .

This refers to Note No. N-DA-DJZN-57-2026 , dated in the city of Río Grande on Thursday, August 20, 2026 , four days before the ship's arrival at the capital's dock and prior to the release of the provincial statements of condemnation.

The exact details of the dispatch and the settlement of fees

The official document, signed by the Head of the Administrative Department in charge of the Northern Zone Directorate of the DPP, Juan F. Porfido (File No. 10,257) , was sent to the Billing Department of the agency to formalize the collection of the port service for the stay on the northern Atlantic coast.

The official statement contains the detailed information on the scale:

               DATA EXTRACTED FROM NOTE N-DA-DJZN-57-2026 (DPP)

 • Issuing agency: Provincial Directorate of Ports - Northern Zone.        

 • Vessel laid up : B/T VS PROMISE | GRT: 42,010 Tons.             

 • Operation : Arrival 08/12/2026 | Departure 08/13/2026 ( Cullen River) .      

 • Oil shipped : 22,464.570 metric tons .                     

 • Provincial rates : 2 days of water mirror (C or d. 1040) + load (0030).

 • Invoicing addressed to : Maritime Agency CRUISING USHUAIA SA .         

 • Responsible signature : Juan F. Porfido (File 10.257 - DPP Admin. Dept.).  

The fall of Melella's official narrative

The appearance of this public instrument issued by the Fuegian State structure itself refutes the line of argument that the Government House has been trying out in recent days:

1.    Full knowledge of the identity and characteristics of the vessel: In order for the DPP to settle the use of the water surface and establish the tonnage of 42,010 gross registered tons, the maritime agency and the operator TotalEnergies had to present to the provincial offices the basic documentation of the vessel, where its name, its IMO registration and its flag of the Isle of Man (United Kingdom) are inescapably recorded.

2.    The collection of fees for the operation: The Province was not only aware of the mooring in Río Cullen, but is also the collecting agent of the provincial port fee derived from the presence of this English ship in waters under its jurisdiction.

3.    Coordination between provincial agencies: It is untenable to claim that the Secretariat of Hydrocarbons "did not know which ship it was delivering the crude oil to" while, at the same time, the Provincial Directorate of Ports was registering the tons loaded with decimal precision in order to issue the invoice.

The contradiction exposed

The chronological sequence of the official documents exposes a blatant double standard: on August 20, the Provincial Directorate of Ports issued the note to collect the fees generated by the VS PROMISE in the north of the province; four days later, when the ship arrived in full view of everyone at the Ushuaia dock, the provincial Executive staged a public repudiation denouncing a sovereign affront attributable to the central Government.

With the tanker at or near the Cullen terminal, to complete its hold capacity, the documentary evidence of the DPP demonstrates that the Fuegian administration was not on the sidelines of the operation : it processed it, oversaw it, liquidated the crude oil and issued the corresponding billing orders .