Scramble for oil and gas in South China Sea

Six countries are all scrambling for the South China Sea. China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Brunei, Taiwan and Malaysia are all making claims to it.


But why now? China estimates there could be up to 213 billion barrels of oil beneath the sea. This would mean China would have the world's second-largest proven oil reserves, just falling behind Saudi Arabia, which has 264 billion barrels.
There are also estimates of up to two quadrillion cubic feet of hydrocarbon natural gas.