Abstract: South America is one of the main oil and gas producing areas in the world, of which the annual oil and gas output (oil equivalent), residual proven recoverable crude oil and gas reserves are more than 300 million tons, 13.4 billion tons and 7 billion cubic meters respectively, and the reserveproduction ratio is far higher than the average world level. Such countries as Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru have great potential for oil and gas exploration and development. Based on presenting the geologic background of South America, this paper divides the sedimentary basins there into five types and discusses the distribution characteristics and the difference of oil-gas resources of each type. South America is supposed to become the main area of exploration for oil and gas in the world in the future years on the basis of analyzing the oil and gas resources and their exploration in different countries in South America, all of which are the most appealing cooperators of China in oil-gas exploration and development in the world

Key words: oil-gas resources, exploration potential, South Americ