Abstract:Long distance (>100km) hydrocarbon migration and accumulation is an important type of petroleum geological phenomenon, which has changed the traditional thought that hydrocarbon accumulation is often source controlled and thus can only be sited near the source areas. It expands the petroleum exploration areas, but such cases are rare, implying the complexity of this phenomenon. To better understand this phenomenon, here we conduct a review on the basic features of this special petroleum geological phenomenon, with the focus on the accumulation model and main controls, and suggest the scientific issues which need to be further studied. The results show that the long distance hydrocarbon migration and accumulation model can be classified to two main types in terms of conduits, including carrier bed—unconformity and carrier bed—fault—unconformity. The long distance hydrocarbon migration and accumulation needs several necessary fundamental conditions and is controlled by many factors, e.g., a steady development of paleo uplift or slope being the background, a sufficient petroleum source being the foundation, a high quality migration pathway network being the condition, and a good preservation being the key. If a petroliferous basin has these necessary conditions, long distance hydrocarbon migration and accumulation can take place, and favorable traps even with relatively long distance from the source kitchens can not be neglected with the possibility of forming commercial accumulations. The scientific issues to be solved include the application of oil source correlation in verifying the migration distance and the identification of long distance, the impacts of fault, the primary and secondary hydrocarbon migration and accumulation, and the migration driving force. The long distance hydrocarbon migration and accumulation deserves enough exploration and research attention.