Methods for estimating the bitumen and the methane generation potentials of kerogen are proposed in this paper.The problem of estimating the initial abundance of kerogen according to the abundance value of organic carbon is also discussed.It is worth noting that

in these methods

not only the changes of atomic ratio of kerogen have taken into account

but also the TGA weight loss of kerogen has considered.The bitumen generation potential means the maximum capacity of kerogento yield liquid bitumen plus gaseous hydrocarbon.As for the types Ⅰ

Ⅱ

andⅢ of kerogen being at the threshold of petroleum generation

their bitumen ge-neration potentials are about 61%

43% and 6% respectively.The methane generation potential means the weight ratio of the methane versus the initial kerogen generated after complete degradation of the latter

with res-pect to the types Ⅰ

Ⅱ and Ⅲ of kerogen being at the threshold of petroleum generation

the methane generation potentials are respectively about 35%

25% and 6%.For a close system of petroleum generation

after complete degradation of kerogen

residual solid carbon abundance being multified by factors of 1.42

1.30 and 1.09 may correspond respectively to the carbon abundance of the kerogen types of Ⅰ

Ⅱ and Ⅲ being at the threshold of petroleum generation. While for a open system

factors to be multified are 2.66

1.83 and 1.10 res-pectively.