Through Decree 870/2021 published this Friday, December 24 in the Official Gazette of the Nation , the President of the Nation granted the Ministry of Energy “the power to review and grant or reject the applications submitted by the companies holding the permits for exploration, extension of the term of the first exploratory period of the exploration permits granted through the International Offshore Public Tender No. 1, called by Resolution No. 65/18 of the former SECRETARIAT OF GOVERNMENT OF ENERGY of the former MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY, within the framework of Decree No. 872/18.”

This is the controversial international offshore tender that granted concessions over 18 oil areas, including British companies present in the Malvinas Islands.

In October 2018, the government of Mauricio Macri put up for sale the specifications for 38 hydrocarbon areas within a maritime area of 200,800 km2, which not only allowed the participation of companies associated with those operating in the Malvinas with an illegal British license, but also In addition, it removed jurisdiction from the Argentine Justice and handed over the exercise of any controversy to international courts. The opposition of the moment, today the ruling party, not only rejected en bloc from Congress, but also denounced it, raising its “unconstitutionality” and asking for “nullity” of DECREE No. 872/2018 and the RESOLUTION of the Secretary of the Government of Energy 65/2018 ; "while it calls for an International Public Competition for oil exploration and exploitation with extension of jurisdiction in favor of foreign courts."

The loudest voices that were heard in 2018 and 2019 were those of National Senator Marcelo Fuentes, of National Deputies Darío Martínez and Daniel Filmus, of the current Minister of Defense Jorge Taiana, the former ambassador to the United Kingdom Alicia Castro, Daniel Filmus, of the former secretary of the Malvinas, Guillermo Rossi, deputy director general of the Malvinas, of Federico Bernal and Agustín Gerez of the OETEC Observatory, of General (R) Fabián Brown and Juan Francisco Numa Soto of the UNNE, and of the mayor of Río Grande Gustavo Melella, among others. In May 2019, Gustavo Melella - today governor of Tierra del Fuego - asked the Federal Justice for the “nullity” of the bidding process, stating that through the contest the National State granted : "unilateral, free and indiscriminate delivery of geological information of the Argentine continental shelf", and allowing " any foreign company to present itself (including those of British nationality and that operated in the Malvinas under the Kelper regime)" which represented "a very serious affront to national sovereignty".

In May 2019, the current Secretary of Energy of the Nation Darío Martínez , in his role as National Deputy and president of the Energy Commission of the Lower House ; warned Macrismo that the Frente de Todos would not give in "to this new British outpost in the Malvinas." And the fact is that 5 of them remained in the hands of the British Tullow Oil and another 7 in the Norwegian Equinor; both associated with the companies that explore the Malvinas basin with illegal permission from the English colony that usurps the Argentine archipelago.

“In the West Malvinas Basin, that is, between the islands and the Province of Tierra del Fuego and the south of Santa Cruz. As can be deduced, a geopolitically transcendental area that makes our legitimate and imprescriptible claims of sovereignty (…) the OETEC found that Tullow Oil is not only of British origin, but also operated 7 licenses for the illegitimate Kelper government in 2007. This violates Argentine legislation and the National Constitution,” Darío Martínez accurately described. Days later, the national senator of the FdT Marcelo Fuentes and the Director of the Energy Observatory Federico Bernal , today the controller of ENERGAS, demanded a similar measure from the justice system: “The unconstitutionality and nullity of the RESOLUTION of the Secretary of Government of Energy 276/2019 plus any other standard that complements, replaces and/or modifies them; while it awards ten (10) hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation permits in the southern Argentine Sea to companies linked to the illegitimate Kelper regime and that illegally exploited our resources in the Malvinas Islands.(…) insofar as they are arbitrary and manifestly illegal; harmful to collective rights, national interest, national sovereignty and particularly violative of the First Transitory Clause of the National Constitution (CN) and United Nations Resolution 2065/1965, Law No. 17,319, Law No. 26,659 and other regulations “concordant hydrocarbon.” The presentation made as mayor by Gustavo Melella in May 2019 awaits resolution in the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.

Por Agenda Malvinas