Exploration for deep petroleum accumulations(DPAs)is of great significance to reserve growth and production stabilization of established petroleum provinces(fields).With an update database for the worldwide DPAs

this study attempts to document their distribution characteristics.Among the 349 petroliferous basins in the world(excluding US Lower 48 States)

87 basins have discovered DPAs.Clastic rocks and carbonates host 63.3% and 35.0% of the total proved plus probable(2P)deep petroleum reserves in the world

respectively.The remaining 1.7% are in igneous and metamorphic rocks.In terms of trap type

73.7% of the total are entrapped in structural traps.Passive margin and foreland basins contain the bulk of the total 2P deep petroleum reserves

with the former accounting for 47.7% of the total and the latter 46.4%.Stratigraphically

the 2P deep petroleum reserves are largely stored in five reservoir intervals:the Paleogene(hosting 22.3% of the total)

Upper Paleozoic(22.2%)

Cretaceous(18.3%)

Neogene(12.8%) and Jurassic(12.8%).Such a stratigraphic distribution is similar to that of shallow-intermediate reservoirs.As salts have a cooling effect for the subsalt sediments

the maturation of sub-salt source rocks or the conversion of trapped oil to gas can be retarded or delayed.Salt-bearing deep basins deserve special attention for deep petroleum exploration.This study suggests that deep petroleum exploration should target the play fairways where major discoveries have been made in the shallow-intermediate reservoirs

particularly those fairways with salts of certain scale.