ABSTRACT
The South China Sea, a vast expanse of water stretching approximately 3.5 million square kilometres from Singapore to the Strait of Taiwan, is estimated to hold significant hydrocarbon resources. China estimates that there are 50 billion barrels of recoverable crude oil and 210 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable natural gas resources in the South China Sea, although a 2010 study by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) suggests mean recoverable crude oil resources may be 11 billion barrels with recoverable natural gas at 300tcf.1The discrepancies between these figures could reflect use of different data sets or study areas, varying perceptions of maturity or contrasting assessments of the economics of reserve exploitation. The underexplored nature of many offshore basins in the South China Sea means that estimating recoverable hydrocarbon resources is not an exact science.
