AN ARGENTINIAN federal judge issued an order this week for British and Israeli companies to stop developing an oilfield off the Falkland Islands.

Wednesday’s order opens a new legal front in the decades-old sovereignty dispute between Argentina and Britain that Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei has revived in recent weeks.

The injunction by Judge Mariel Borruto targets the Sea Lion oil project 140 miles north of the British-controlled archipelago in the south Atlantic, barring drilling, offshore installations and port construction until Argentinian authorities can conduct an environmental review and issue a decision.

But in practice, Wednesday’s order is unlikely to halt progress on the project.

Judge Borruto acknowledged that enforcement “depends on international co-operation and the conduct” of the two companies, Israel’s Navitas Petroleum and Britain’s Rockhopper Exploration, which have already vowed to press ahead with the project despite Mr Milei’s threats of tougher sanctions against them and other companies operating around the islands.

Rockhopper declined to comment, and Navitas did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the injunction.

With its commercial oil production expected to start in 2028, Sea Lion has raised the stakes of a territorial dispute that led Britain and Argentina to a short and bloody war in 1982.

For the territory’s roughly 3,500 residents, the oilfield promises to transform the Falklands economy.

For Argentina, which calls the islands the Malvinas, the project would allow foreign companies to extract oil riches it regards as its own. Its claim to the archipelago, roughly 300 miles off its coast, is enshrined in the constitution and woven into national identity, drawing support across the country’s political divisions.

Britain argues that the people who live in the Falklands should determine its status, citing the results of a 2013 referendum in which islanders overwhelmingly voted to remain a British territory.

“Argentine domestic law does not apply within the Islands,” the British government said this week.