China has succeeded in collecting samples of combustible ice in the South China Sea.

The recovery is being hailed by the People’s Republic as a “major breakthrough” that may lead to a “global energy revolution”, according to the Minister of Land and Resources Jiang Daming.

This is China’s first success in mining flammable ice at sea.

The breakthrough comes after nearly two decades of research and exploration, the minister said at a trial mining site in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea on May 18.

China found flammable ice, a kind of natural gas hydrate, in the South China Sea in 2007.

International scientific circles have predicted that natural gas hydrate is the best replacement for oil and natural gas.