Oil Gas Exploring

　　 The area around the Spratly Islands has the richest resources, and is the most important sea of transportation. This has led to a major dispute, involving many countries. After years of surveying, research and analysis, it has been found that the sedimentary basin under the Spratlys sea area has very attractive features. Rough estimates indicate that the sea area around the Spratly Islands holds about two hundred billion barrels of petroleum, 5.5 billion of which are estimated with economic value. These abundant resources are distributed in the Chen Ho Basin, northwest Palawan Basin, China-Vietnam Basin, Cheng Mu Basin, etc. This petroleum accounts for 19% of known global reserves. This is why Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia all claim maritime sovereignty over the area.
　　Since the UN Natural Resources Report indicated that there might be petroleum in the South China Sea in 1990, the situation in the South China Sea became more and more tense. The disputes about sovereignty and drilling rights have become more and more serious, and there have been a number of armed clashes. Several countries have already sent troops to occupy the islands and drill for oil. This has all been conducted in secret, making it difficult to arrange collaboration.
　　Many suggestions have been made regarding the South China Sea petroleum problem, but no one has reached a workable solution. The ROC's China Petroleum Corp. and Mainland China's China Marine Petroleum Company signed a contract in 1996 to cooperate on exploration near Pratas Island. They hope that the two companies can achieve the goal to drill together, so that the cooperation between them can be a good demonstration of how to deal with the South China Sea problem peacefully.