One of the driving factors behind the ongoing territorial dispute in the South China Sea (SCS) is the region's sizeable proven and probable oil and natural gas reserves, which are estimated by the EIA at 11bn barrels (bbls) of oil and 5.7trn cubic metres (tcm) of natural gas respectively. To put this into perspective, this represents 2.7 years of China's (the world's second-largest energy consumer) oil consumption and 30 years of its gas consumption.
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