Regional structure, and therefore any regional map indicating regional structure, can be used to determine the preferred lateral hydrocarbon migration directions in a basin. The presence or absence of oil and gas in a specific area's traps can thus be predicted. Integration of well data, deep seismic data, and magnetic data, will of course improve any regional structure map. Hydrocarbons are generated mainly in deep hot portions of a basin. Subsurface pressures in a basin are the result of sediment thickness, sediment weight, fluid flow, and thermal effects.
Most basins are asymmetrical and curved.
In a complex basin each individual depocenter has its own migration rules and also interacts with adjacent depocenters. Whatever the basin form is, lateral hydrocarbon migration occurs in a preferred way in directions that lie parallel to pressure gradients or perpendicular to regional subsurface pressure isobars and perpendicular to regional structure contours drawn near regional carrier beds. By drawing arrows perpendicular to regional structure contours, directions of most preferred hydrocarbon migration pathways can be defined and mapped. The best individual prospects will lie along the most preferred migration pathways. In this way basins or portions of basins can be evaluated early and prior to the investment of larger exploration efforts and cost.