20th September, 2012

TOKYO: The uninhabited islands at the centre of an escalating territorial row between Tokyo and Beijing may sit on top of a rich oil reserve or may be little more than a bunch of rocks.

Decades-long speculation about the value of the islands, known in Japan as Senkaku and as Diaoyu in China, have been based largely on an obscure 1969 United Nations report suggesting the seabed in the area could contain an oil bonanza.

But the document, produced from surveys conducted by an international team of experts, including scientists from China and Japan, never gave any estimate of the reserves and said more research was needed.

Sediments beneath the continental shelf are believed to have great potential as oil and gas reservoirs, says the report.

An area several times larger than Taiwan lies north of that island with sediment thicknesses exceeding two kilometres (1.2 miles) and perhaps reaching the nine kilometres thickness that underlies Taiwan. The islands lie some 200 kilometres from Taiwan.

This sediment is of a similar age and structure to the strata under Taiwan that are known to contain oil, the report says.

The shallow sea floor between Japan and Taiwan appears to have great promise as a future oil province of the world, but detailed seismic studies are now required. Afterward, the final test must be made by offshore drilling. The mere suggestion of vast reserves and media speculation in the 1970s that the continental shelf between Taiwan and Japan could hold a staggering 100 billion barrels of oil was enough to set off a territorial scramble.

We dont believe such a huge amount is actually there, a Japanese official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP.

More recent investigations have not focused on the islands in particular.

More:

Japan-China dispute islands: Oil bonanza or just rocks?