Through summarizing the dating techniques and methods commonly employed in geochronology of hydrocarbon accumulation and evaluating their advantages and disadvantages

it is suggested that the indirect dating of hydrocarbon accumulation through geological methods be replaced by direct determination of hydrocarbon charging ages through radioactive isotope approaches.By using highly sensitive mass spectrometer equipped with electron multiplier and UV laser probe system

an integrated method of fluid inclusion with Ar/Ar dating of authigenic K-feldspar overgrowth has been successfully applied in precise dating of multiple-phase hydrocarbon charging of small amount in small areas

bearing significance for the kinetic modeling of hydrocarbon migration and accumulation and the exploration of secondary reservoirs in superimposed basins.It is also worthy of note that the geochronology study of hydrocarbon accumulation needs not only the intersection and interpenetration of multiple disciplines

but also the development of more representative diagenetic mineral dating methods that could be validated by the results of many other dating techniques

thus providing reliable bases for hydrocarbon accumulation dating in different sedimentary basins.