“The East China Sea gas field at the heart of a diplomatic row between China and Japan is not worth fighting over as greater resources exist in Siberia,” he said.

“The Siberian Far East will become a major energy supplier for Asia. China, Japan and South Korea [stand] to benefit from working together to find and tap the energy resources there.”

The disputed gas field, which Japan said led to the intrusion last week of a Chinese submarine into Japanese waters, would not alone satisfy China’s ravenous energy demands over the next 30 years.

“Nobody thinks that there will be a lot of oil and gas in this part of the world,” he said.

“It may be a difficult political issue [but] I don’t think the energy content is worthwhile launching a big crisis. There is a strong interest for all those four countries to work together in the cooperative way rather than confrontational way.”

IEA would act as a go-between to facilitate cooperation, Mandil said.

Japan and China are also competing over Russian oil deposits and oil and gas infrastructure projects. South Korea views Russia as a potential key supplier to meet its energy needs.