WikiLeaks: Falklands oil insufficient for Exxon
06 Dec 2010
According documents leaked by WikiLeaks, oil resources in the Falklands Islands, a British territory claimed by Argentina were not sufficient to be profitable an ExxonMobil Corp executive had commented.
The cable that originated from the US Embassy in London was dated February 2010 and referred to a new oil drilling effort then initiated in the Falklands that led to tension between Britain and Argentina.
"ExxonMobil International Chairman Brad Corson told us he does not believe there is enough oil on the Falkland Islands Continental Shelf to be profitable, citing Shell's earlier oil exploration attempts which they abandoned," the cable read.
Exxon is the world's largest private oil company. The cable was among 250,000 US diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks, the whistle-blowing website.
Drilling in the Falklands over which the UK and Argentina fought a war in 1982, resumed in February after more than 10 years. The previous effort undertaken in 1998 had thrown up disappointing results.
Following their failure in 1998, big oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell chose to abandon the efforts.