The Falkland Islands are on course to earn around £4billion over 35 years from the Sea Lion oil field, a windfall that has reignited Argentina's long-standing claim to the territory. President Javier Milei has vowed to "act swiftly" to "recover" the islands, arguing they belong to Argentina by law and historical precedent, and has warned he "will not allow" the islands to profit from what he considers Argentine resources.

The field, discovered in 2010 some 150 miles north of Port Stanley, holds an estimated 900 million barrels and is due to start production in 2028; it is six times larger than the UK's Rosebank field. The Falklands government will receive 9 per cent of revenues plus 26 per cent corporation tax, funding hundreds of jobs, a tripling of GDP and energy self-sufficiency, while also easing the £500million a year Britain spends on defending the territory. Argentina has responded by sanctioning project partners Navitas Petroleum and Rockhopper, causing their share prices to fall, echoing hostile measures taken by former president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner after the 2010 discovery.