The Scotian Basin, which in part underlies the Scotian Shelf offshore eastern Canada, contains up to 12 km of Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary strata and has all the prerequisites for hydrocarbon occurrence. Data sets--stratigraphy, structure, organic geochemistry, kerogen type and maturity, geothermal history, and oil and gas occurrence--show that the hydrocarbons encountered in the wells drilled to date are in

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situ and that the sequence of generation is normal although somewhat skewed owing to the nature of organic-matter source. A stochastic model, combining geologic, geochemical, and reservoir data, indicates a probable ultimate potential for modest amounts of gas and small amounts of oil beneath the Scotian Shelf in a variety of structural and stratigraphic traps.

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