近十年来,亚洲、太平洋地区的天然气探明储量成倍增长。1988年达7.79万亿m～3,按能源当量计算,大约是亚洲石油储量的1/3以上,按目前产气水平衡量,现有储量至少可开采60年,而石油储量仅能使用12年。马来西亚的石油储量可开采15年,天然气为94年;印度尼西亚石油的储采比为18,天然气为64;印度前者为19,后者为50。当然,亚洲地区对天然气的消费量,与国际上其他地区相比仍较低。过去所进行的勘探工作集中于找石油,忽视了找天然气。像印度和中国这样一些有 In the past decade, proven reserves of natural gas in Asia and the Pacific doubled. It reached 7.79 trillion m 3 in 1988 and is about 1/3 of the total oil reserves in Asia. According to the current gas production level, the existing reserves can be mined for at least 60 years while the oil reserves can only be used for 12 years . Malaysia’s oil reserves can be exploited for 15 years with 94 years of natural gas; Indonesian oil has a storage-to-production ratio of 18 and natural gas of 64; India’s former at 19 and the latter at 50. Of course, the consumption of natural gas in Asia is still lower than that of other regions in the world. The exploration work conducted in the past has focused on finding oil and neglected to find natural gas. Some like India and China