For a long time，the demand for oil and gas resources in NE Asian countries including China has been increasing quickly；meanwhile，this broad region is one of the richest petroleum re- source areas in the world．The basins developed on these old cratons(0．8—1．8 Ga B．P．)are the hot regions for petroleum exploration in the 1990s and next century．These basins include theTarim Basin and Huabei Basin of China and the East Siberian Basin of Ruasia．The old strata in— cluding the Proterozoic and Paleozoic have excellent source rocks which have experienced the pro- cess of petroleum generation，migration and accumulation．Multiple tectonic movements and mul— tiple unconformity surfaces brought about hydrocarbon accumulation，escape and reaccumulation seweral times，thus forming many unique unconventional oil／gas traps and distribution models． The inherited subsidence and deposition during the Mesozoic and Cenozioic were favorable for hy— drocarbon preservation and also have great influences on the reformation of old oil／gas pools to form some special petroleum systems on these old cratons．The huge sedimentary volume，abun— dant hydrocarbons of the old strata and subsequent good preservation conditions show that these basins have great gas and oil potential