Didn't Deffeyes name this area as the only place left on earth that petroleum geologists didn't know much about?  Because of the political situation.
I've looked at some of this - mainly off the east coast of Vietnam.  What I looked at was not very prospective.  Chinese companies, who are quickly becoming technically astute, would not be drilling for oil in Wall Street (e.g. Unocal) and in Athabasca if there were easy pickings in these near areas. That said, China is very aggressive at protecting what they consider to be their private bathtub.