East China Sea, a Treasure for Oil, Is Fraught With Danger - 0 views
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China and Japan thirst after an estimated 60 million to 100 million barrels of oil under the 482,000-square-mile sea east of Shanghai. Add to that 1 trillion to 2 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. Their economies, Asia's two largest, need fuel for manufacturing of just about everything in the world. Both are net importers today.
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Political analysts say a one-sided move to drill for oil or gas in the surrounding sea comes with so much risk that nothing's going on. China and Japan have discovered plenty of other sources for economic development oil in the meantime. Even the South China Sea, claimed by six governments, has stabilized since summer, letting oil exploration gingerly move forward.
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"While resources are at stake, no one can realistically expect to safely drill for oil or gas if there is a full-on territorial dispute that could get militarized, since oil and gas rigs are inherently indefensible," says Scott Harold, associate political scientist with the American think tank Rand Corp.
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