Abstract: The east China sea basin is a large sedimentary basin with mainly Genozoic sediments and more than 10000 meters of total thickness of sedimentaxy rock. There were four episodes in development of the basin occurring during different geological ages ranging from Late Cretaceous to Paleocene, from Eocene to Oligocene, in Miocene and from Pliocene to Quaternary. Different types of trap and hydrocarbon reservoir were formed at every stage of development. The oil and gas potential of the basin is good.