The Falkland Islands belong to England since her glorious days. Argentina considers the Islands part of her territory, and the two countries went to a war in 1982 for these islands. England won the war and managed to keep the Islands under British control.
http://www.operationworld.org/files/ow/maps/lginset/falk-LMAP-md.png
Picture 2
As usual, Argentina and England fight for the control of the Islands because their seabed are supposed to be rich in oil. As you can read at the following Telegraph article, titled “New Falklands oil discovery could stir trouble with Argentina”, May 2015, a field with 1 billion barrel of oil was recently discovered near the Falklands, and this discovery increased the tension between England and Argentina. One billion barrels of oil is not much when compared to Venezuela’s 300 billion barrels, but in absolute terms it is a very large quantity. And these waters are difficult to explore, so there is a possibility of further discoveries.
After the Argentinean attack of 1982, the English have enhanced the Island’s defense capabilities. The British aircrafts that are stationed on the Islands are much more advanced than the Argentinean counterparts. Argentina announced that the companies that will explore the oil reserves of the Falklands will not have the right to participate in the development of the Argentinean fields. Argentina is one of the richest countries in the world in terms of shale oil and shale gas, as you can see at the following Energy Information Table.
Picture 3
http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=14431
I must also mention that the Falklands are important for England because they give her access to the South Ocean and the South Pole i.e. the region of Antarctica, as you can see at the following map.
Picture 4
http://www.worldatlas.com/img/areamap/continent/antartica_map.gif
See also “Shale Oil and Shale Gas Reserves”
https://iakal.wordpress.com/2015/08/05/shale-oil-and-shale-gas-reserves/
For the Telegraph article see “New Falklands oil discovery could stir trouble with Argentina”, May 2015
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