Oil discoverd under the Falklands

What if there is a major oil field right under the Falklands. Mideast level of oil, something on the order of the Ghawar Field. The field was discovered right on the eve of the invasion. The day the company announced the discovery Argentina invaded so it didn't factor in and Argentina's reason for invading was the same.

Will Argentina fight harder to retain control of the Falklands? Will Britain devote more forces to retake the island?

What about the US. This could be a source of oil in a stable friendly country in a not so volatile region that is easy for it to defend. I would think the US would be more than willing to step in and send forces to help our dear friend Britain who was attacked. What will Argentina do facing the might of the USN.

balk and leg it.

Just how are Argentina going to fight harder for the islands???

Add more troops - dont think the logsitics allow that. Remember everything after the first few weeks is goin in by air.
Better quality troops - would be a help (although changing units in the middle of an operation is not the best idea...), but they are still up against the best infantry in the world in an infantry fight. More British casualties, but no big difference to the outcome.
Station planes at Stanley? - They were already trying to do this. If they'd dont it faster, the SAS would have been even happier...
More naval effort? = more targets for the British submarines.
They were already doing the maximum air effort.

That, and the there already IS oil there. They just weren't able to do anything about it until after the war. I don't think think they knew anything about it in the 80s, or if they did, it must not have been enough to be worth trying to drill down at the sea floor.
I remember hearing on NPR for the Falklands War's 25th Anniversary that they send all the kids to college with a scholarship from the oil money.
Of course, you can do that when you've got practically no one living there. I've heard of living in the middle of nowhere, but God. The middle of the South Atlantic? You don't get much closer to Nowhere.

Astrodragon said:

Just how are Argentina going to fight harder for the islands???

Add more troops - dont think the logsitics allow that. Remember everything after the first few weeks is goin in by air.
Better quality troops - would be a help (although changing units in the middle of an operation is not the best idea...), but they are still up against the best infantry in the world in an infantry fight. More British casualties, but no big difference to the outcome.
Station planes at Stanley? - They were already trying to do this. If they'd dont it faster, the SAS would have been even happier...
More naval effort? = more targets for the British submarines.
They were already doing the maximum air effort.

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Actually, IIRC the forces that assaulted the Falklands weren't same as the garrison forces the British encountered. Furthermore, the Argentinians were very, very sloppy defenders. There is so much preperation work they could have done but didn't.

HJ Tulp said:

Actually, IIRC the forces that assaulted the Falklands weren't same as the garrison forces the British encountered. Furthermore, the Argentinians were very, very sloppy defenders. There is so much preperation work they could have done but didn't.

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Preliminary work? Like what?
Digging defences in what ias basically peat requires rather more work than just digging a few holes.
Add concrete, they say. Fine, except where would it come from? They were busy putting soldiers and their equipment on the islands until the British naval blockade hit. So what dont they bring instead of all that construction kit??

Pre-plotting for the artillery for example. Maybe atleast some defence plan? The largest force on the island gave up without a shot. Your doing something wrong if that happens. Furthermore, there must have bee equipement on the island to dig trenches and such with.

MacCaulay said:

I've heard of living in the middle of nowhere, but God. The middle of the South Atlantic? You don't get much closer to Nowhere.

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This is off-topic, but France has island possessions in even more remote locations. I'm acquainted with a guy who worked for a year in the Crozet islands (pop. 18), a desolate chunk of land in the southern Indian Ocean, halfway between Madagascar and Antarctica. They get the visit of a supply ship once every three months, and that's it.

Even the Dumont-d'Urville base in Antarctica proper has a higher population, and that's saying something.

if there had been a huge oil strike under the Falklands and it was known about at the time of the invasion, I wonder if you'd see the US be more forceful about siding with the Brits... probably not to the extent of helping them out militarily, but loudly condemning the invasion, helping out with more satellite coverage, etc. Having a ME size oil field in the hands of Britain would solve a hell of a lot of the US's foreign policy problems...

HJ Tulp said:

Actually, IIRC the forces that assaulted the Falklands weren't same as the garrison forces the British encountered. Furthermore, the Argentinians were very, very sloppy defenders. There is so much preperation work they could have done but didn't.

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They hadn't anticipated Britain trying to take them back. Hence, they didn't give a shit.

Having a ME-size oil field under the Falklands (and probably some of it under Argentina) is going to make Reagan very anxious to solve the rift between Britain and Argentina once the war is over, and probably make ABSOLUTELY certain that Argentina is on the US side after the war. Probably re-arming the Argentine military to some extent and getting Britain and Argentina to settle their differences. Both will go for it - Argentina sees its economic salvation, Britain gets ridiculously rich.