Bohai Bay is currently a large-scale peroliferous basin with the largest petroleum reserves discovered so far in China.It harbors three large hydrocarbon-enriched zones: the Jizhong depression in the west

the Huanghua-Linqing depression in the central

and the Jiyang-Bozhong-Liaohe depression in the east.Based on studies of numerous exploration cases and reserves growth pattern and analysis of relationship between these plays and their geological features

this paper estimates the potential of reserves in Bohai Bay basin and presents corresponding exploration strategies.The offshore part of the basin has a ration of proved reserves to OOIP as low as 29.7%

therefore shall be regarded as the important future target for reserve growth;while for the onshore part

exploration shall aim at subtle structural-lithological combination reservoirs with different strategies for different series of strata.In the shallow part

new 3-D seismic acquisition and reprocessing of old seismic data are to be performed to discover new plays;in the middle part

review of old wells and progressive exploration and deve-lopment will be carried out to define new targets;while in the deep part

detailed reservoir study will be performed to look for carbonate reservoirs.By doing this

it is certain that the Bohai Bay basin will see a new run of reserves growth in the near future.