Land of opportunity

• Military forces from China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam patrol the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, where there is thought to be oil

— In the 1990s Russia tried to have the Caspian Sea redefined as a lake. Bordered by five countries, it holds 47.5 billion barrels of oil, and if it is downgraded to a lake all territorial zones could be voided, allowing Russia to veto oil deals

— The islands of Abu Musa and Greater and Lesser Tumb, in the oil-rich Gulf, have been disputed by Iran and the United Arab Emirates since 1971, when Iran occupied them after the departure of the British

— The first Gulf War began after a dispute over the Rumaila oilfield, on the Iraq-Kuwait border. Saddam Hussein accused Kuwait of using slant drilling to steal Iraq’s oil. He claimed Kuwait as Iraq’s 19th province

— Melting polar ice caps have raised fears of a “cold war” over oil beneath the Arctic. Russia, Canada, Norway, the US and Denmark are hotly disputing territorial borders they have ignored for years as the prospect of drilling becomes feasible

— The uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea have an area of less than 2.5 sq miles but are a stumbling block in Sino-Japan relations. They were claimed by Japan in 1895 but China has asserted sovereignty since the 1400s in an dispute fuelled by oil deposits

Sources: about.com, globalsecurity.com