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The Falkland Islands Government recently approved the field, with the reported green light of the UK government.
12:50, Thu, Apr 16, 2026 Updated: 12:53, Thu, Apr 16, 2026
The Sea Lion development has been approved (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
The government's decision to approve drilling in the sea around the Falkland Islands has been slammed as hypocritical. The vast Sea Lion development received approval from the Falkland Islands Government late last year, clearing the way for full-scale production. Sources indicate the project would not have been given the green light without backing from the UK.
It is believed that the field set to be explored contains hundreds of millions of barrels of oil and provide a significant economic benefit to islanders on the British territory. Island leaders said the project would help underpin the Falklands’ “economic independence”. However it comes as the government continues to dig its heels in over calls to approve more exploration licences in the North Sea as global oil supplies continue to be strangled by the war in Iran.
Miliband has resisted calls to grant more exploration licences (Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has so far resisted calls for new licences, leaving major projects such as Jackdaw and Rosebank in limbo as they await a decision on whether they will be approved to start drilling.
Despite a transition to cleaner, more renewable sources of energy, roughly 70% of Britain’s energy still comes from oil and gas.
A Falkland Islands Government spokesperson added: “The development of the field represents a crucial opportunity for diversification of a remote economy, especially in an era of significant geopolitical shift.”
Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho told the Sun: “Labour is happy to sign off new drilling 8,000 miles away, but Ed Miliband won’t sign off our ready-to-go oil and gas projects in the North Sea.
“This is self-loathing madness that is killing jobs and tax revenues in Britain.
“If we need oil and gas we should get as much as we can from home.”
And Reform’s energy spokesperson Richard Tice said: “The hypocrisy of rightly backing this project in the Falklands Islands because they are a long way away, while denying it in the North Sea beggars belief.”
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A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The natural resources of a UK Overseas Territory belong to the Overseas Territory, and it is for them to decide on policies relating to these resources.
“Any decision regarding Sea Lion is for the Falkland Islands Government and the private companies concerned.”
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