Geological characteristics of the Meso-Paleozoic in South Yellow Sea Basin and future exploration

The South Yellow Sea Basin is a large Mesozoic-Paleozoic petroliferous basin with substantial hydrocarbon potential. However, there has had no breakthrough so far in oil exploration in the basin. Comparison suggests that the biggest difference between the South Yellow Sea Basin and the Sichun Basin is mainly caused by tectonic intensity. It is known that the South Yellow Sea Basin has suffered from multi stages of tectonic movement in the periods of Mesozoic and Palaeozoic and the preservation conditions are damaged to certain extent. Breakthrough in oil and gas exploration is expected in some tectonically stable zones. Based on the above observation, this paper is devoted to the tectonic- sedimentary evolution as well as the stratigraphic distribution of South Yellow Sea Basin, following the evaluation of petroleum geological conditions. Some target areas with weak deformation in middle-south area of Laoshan uplift are identified and the lower Paleozoic is selected as the key exploration strata. Some target areas such as the middle and south Laoshan uplift where deformation is relatively weak are recommended for future exploration.