Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China)[Abstract]Carboniferour-Permian, Jurassic-Cretaceous and Paleogene-Neogene volcanic reservoirs have acted as the exploration play in China. Volcanic reservoirs located near the source rocks are the most beneficial for hydrocarbon accumulation, so the hydrocarbon-generation centers control the hydrocarbon distribution, and the volcanic reservoirs located far from the source rocks need through faults and the discomformities surfaces. The lava, volcanic breccia and volcanics located in weathered crust are the dominant reservoirs. In the rift basins of eastern China, volcanic reservoirs are mainly composed of lithologic and structural-lithological type and are formed near the source rock centers; in the basins of central and western China, volcanic reservoirs formed near or far from the source rocks, and stratigraphic reservoirs are formed along the uncomformity surfaces.