An Australian geoscience company said it has uncovered geological structures in the South China Sea with "significant implications for petroleum exploration".

Frogtech Geoscience said its South China Sea SEEBASE(R) basement-focused study covered a geologically complex region.

A structural and tectonic model "gives petroleum explorers a new understanding of important early rift depocentres that may contain potential source rocks, and the impact of shifting sediment provenance through time".

"Collectively,