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Post by Red Rackham on May 19, 2024 13:28:04 GMT
Indeed Jonksy, to many people the strategic and economic importance of the Falklands may not have been obvious over the past few decades. But as resources become ever scarcer I think the importance of 'fortress' Falklands will become increasingly obvious.
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Post by witchfinder on May 19, 2024 14:54:21 GMT
The adopted constitution of The Falkland Islands came into force in 2009, and in that constitution it clearly sets out the parameters and areas where the government of the Falkland Islands determine policy.
The issuing of "Rights" and "Licenses" for natural resources including oil, gas and fishing is the domain of the Falkland Islands government, NOT the UK government.
The Legislature and government of The Falkland Islands has key responsibility on the economy and finances, the UK government is responsible for Foreign Policy and Defence.
Though it has to stated, that in the event of oil or gas been discovered, the Falkland Islands administration would not consider sharing any revenues with the UK, in return for, and in acknowledgement of the protections that the UK give to the islands, and the costs incurred in defending the Islands.
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Post by Red Rackham on May 19, 2024 15:20:44 GMT
If oil & gas is recovered in commercial quantities it will obviously benefit the Falklands, but, and bearing in mind that 200 nautical miles around the Falklands are British territorial waters, the treasury would be significant beneficiaries of any oil and gas revenues. Quote: ...Mike Summers, a member of the Falkland Islands elected legislative assembly (2011-2017), indicated that revenue from oil could make the Islands economically self-sufficient. With greater resources, the Islands could pay for their own defence, which currently [2020] costs the British exchequer approximately £300m a year, or 0.5% of the total UK defence budget, he said. If there was still surplus revenue, Islanders would then consider paying back the millions of pounds that the UK has spent on defence in the last three decades, Summers said, and could also offer aid to the UK and South America. But that is a “long, long way off ”, he added (Summers, 2012). The British government’s public position is that the oil industry is being developed in order to benefit the Islanders, but the archives show that in the mid-1980s at least, ministers and officials were still considering whether the oil revenues might also benefit the British Treasury. Minister of state at the Department of Energy, Peter Morrison, wrote in 1987 that “implementation of a seismic licensing regime would benefit both the UK and the Islands” while an inter-departmental report concluded: “In practice Her Majesty’s Government could adequately control the issue of licences by the Falkland Islands Government (FIG). Revenue would... accrue to the FIG. The question of a possible contribution to the British Exchequer could arise if this revenue greatly exceeded the needs of the Falklands” (Morrison, 1987; Report of InterDepartmental Working Group, 1986). www.redalyc.org/journal/3871/387171143006/html/Anyone who seriously thinks significant oil/gas revenues would not benefit the British government should not be taken seriously. |
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Post by Handyman on May 19, 2024 15:39:23 GMT
According to the Media today the Russians and Chinese are very interested in the Gas and Oil fields around the Falklands
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