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Department of Mineral Resources - Home

The Falkland Islands' potential oil areas comprise of the North Falkland Basin to the North and the South Falkland Basin (SFB) to the South and South East of the Islands. Six wells were drilled in the North Falkland Basin (NFB) in 1998; five of which had oil and gas shows (including one which recovered live oil to surface) and one dry well. View our exploration history page for more information.

The first well of the ongoing campaign was spudded in February 2010 and has comprised of 16 wells (including the first well to be drilled in the South Falklands Basin) and 2 associated well tests. 2012 will see further exploration in the South Falklands Basin, as Borders & Southern and Falkland Oil & Gas prepare a minimum total of three wells. View our current exploration page for more information.

For more information on licences, visit our production licence page or our exploration licence page (please note, exploration licences are designed for seismic and oceanographic surveys or similar, general oil exploration is covered under production licences).

More information and downloads on the regulatory framework are available in our health & safety, environmental and fiscal regime sections

If you are an existing operator you can download any of our Petroleum Operations Notices here.

All pages contain links to relevant downloads, but if you still can't find what you are looking for all the documents available for download on this website are listed here. Alternatively, view our contact page for links and information on how to get in touch with us.

What's New?

May 2012

Borders & Southern Petroleum have completed well 61/17-1 on its Darwin East prospect in the South Falklands Basin. The well has been confirmed as a gas condensate discovery, with a net pay zone of 67.8m and average porosity of 22%. The company will look to carry out further samples on the recovered condensate in order to accurately determine its composition. Ocean Rig’s Leiv Eiriksson will now move on to Borders & Southern’s Stebbing prospect before drilling two wells for Falkland Oil & Gas to the East and South East of the Falkland Islands.