In order to more precisely reveal the hydrocarbon distribution of fault zones in the upper source rock-lower reservoir assemblage

we present an improved method of quantifying the lateral transport capacity of the fault-sandstone configuration

considering both the effect of fault-sandstone contact length and physical property of sand bodies

and the effect of dip angles of sand bodies.Twelve faults in the middle-shallow layers were selected from five typical blocks in Nanpu Sag

Bohai Bay Basin

to quantitatively estimate and compare the lateral transport capacity of the configurations of the 12 faults and 67 sandstone layers in 16 wells by using the original and improved methods

respectively.The results show that:the parameter values obtained by using the improved method correlate positively with the height of oil-gas column in sand bodies

that is

the bigger the values are

the higher the oil-gas column becomes; and vice versa.When the parameter value is over 0.4

the sandstone reservoir contains oil or both oil and gas

while when its value is less than 0.4

the sandstone reservoir contains water or is dry

indicating the applicability of the improved method.The parameter values obtained with the improved method are remarkably lower than that worked out by the original method

indicating an overestimation by the original method and thus resulting in risks to oil-gas exploration.