Prime Minister Naoto Kan is considering whether to dispatch the ship for a geophysical survey -- a move that would be certain to further rile Beijing -- said the Kyodo News agency, quoting unnamed government sources.

The Asian economic giants and growing competitors for energy and mineral resources have been embroiled in their worst spat in years since Japan arrested a Chinese fishing boat captain in disputed waters six weeks ago.

Although Japan has since released the skipper the two countries have continued a war of words in the dispute, in which China has also frozen a series of bilateral events and taken other punitive steps.

As tensions flared last month Beijing cancelled scheduled talks with Tokyo on the planned joined exploitation of a long-disputed gas field deep in the East China Sea called Shirakaba in Japan and Chunxiao in China.

In mid-September Japan said China had transported what appeared to be drilling equipment to its offshore facility in the gas field.

Japan now believes it is "highly likely" that China has started drilling since then, given cloudy sea waters nearby, Kyodo quoted a senior official of the Agency for Natural Resources and Energy as saying.

For several weeks Japan has been conducting regular aerial surveillance flights in the area.

Japan is considering counter-measures including a plan to conduct its own test drilling nearby, the report said, adding that the survey ship could also collect detailed data on the undersea energy deposits.

Seeking to ease tensions, Japan and China have been in talks on whether Kan and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao will hold a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of a summit of Southeast Asian leaders in Hanoi next week.

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