Abstract: Of this century, basin modeling has stepped into a hard time of its development. The famous overseas commercial software corporations have still been working hard and have made some progresses in different aspects. Furthermore, some new comers in this field have joined in. From 1990s to the beginning of the century, basin modeling in China remained international level on the whole, so we have a good base for development. As a long-term research problem, 3-D hydrocarbon migration and accumulation modeling facesmany difficulties and challenges, such as accurate algorithmfor simulation equation, considering and quantitatively processing fault and other geological factors, the reconstruction of intermittent mutation processes of hydrocarbons, and the rebuilding of paleo-hydrodynamic process etc. So the main trend for future basin modeling development will be: to enhance the application of 3- D geological attribute modeling and 3-D structural modeling, to implement interactive modeling for each critical stage under the guidance of hydrocarbon migration and accumulation rules in line with geological laws.

Key words: basin modeling, development situation, 3-D migration and accumulation modeling, difficulty and challenge, interactive modeling for each stage