Southern rockhopper penguin eye. The rockhopper penguin complex is confusing. Many taxonomists consider all three rockhopper penguin forms subspecies. Some split the northern subspecies ("moseleyi") from the southern forms ("chrysocome" and "filholi"). Still others consider all three distinct. The subspecies recognized for the southern rockhopper penguin complex are: The northern rockhopper penguin lives in a different water mass than the western and eastern rockhopper penguin, separated by the Subtropical Front, and they are genetically different. Therefore, northern birds are sometimes separated as "E. moseleyi". The rockhopper penguins are closely related to the macaroni penguin ("E. chrysolophus") and the royal penguin ("E. schlegeli"), which
Rockhopper Exploration viable rates. In July 2012, Rockhopper announced that it had entered into a conditional farm out agreement with Premier Oil plc whereby Premier will acquire 60% of Rockhopper's interests in its North Falkland Basin licences in exchange for an upfront cash payment of $231m, a contribution of $722m to Rockhopper's share of the Sea Lion development costs and a net exploration carry of $48m. Rockhopper will be fully funded on its share of the Sea Lion development through the contribution to costs and standby financing provided by Premier. First oil from Sea Lion is expected in 2020. Rockhopper holds interests