The UK Government was warned last night that sending a nuclear submarine to the Falklands in support of a major drilling campaign by a North Sea-based rig would be “madness”.
The warning came from former Scottish Labour MP Tam Dalyell, who famously campaigned for years over the way a British submarine sank the Argentine cruiser the Belgrano during the Falklands war.
Mr Dalyell spoke out as the Ministry of Defence refused to comment on reports that it had sent the 5,000-tonne HMS Sceptre, armed with conventional weapons, to the area following mounting concern in Argentina over the drilling by the rig Ocean Guardian, which is owned by Diamond Offshore Drilling, of Dyce.
It has started drilling for Desire Petroleum in waters north of the Falklands.
Mr Dalyell said the drilling itself was “folly of a huge order”.
A Desire spokesman said the results from the first well would be published “by the end of this month”.
A source described the report concerning the submarine and an earlier report that the rig had been “buzzed” by Argentine aircraft as “rubbish” and reports that the rig has actually found oil as “wild speculation”.
The company’s share price has risen from around 80p at the beginning of the year to around 105p.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Defence said: “We do not discuss submarine operations.”
A Foreign Office spokes-woman said some results from drilling could emerge next week, but it would be longer before anyone could claim to have found commercially exploitable quantities and five years before extraction could begin.
She said the UK supported the Falklands in developing an offshore oil industry but would like to develop good relations with Argentina.
Gordon Liberal Democrat MP Malcolm Bruce, whose constituency includes Dyce, said he did not know if a submarine had been sent to the South Atlantic but he would not be surprised if one were.
Nothing should be done to aggravate relations with Argentina, he said.
But if there was an attempt to interfere with the drilling operations he would expect the UK Government to ”respond to protect our interests”.
He said he would contact Diamond over the situation.