Abstract: The term play is in common use in oil exploration. An exploration play is a family of hydrocarbon pools and prospects within a specified area which share a common geological history and have a commonality of trapping mechanisms, whether determined by structure or facies. The exploration plays in the Jiangling depression are examined herein on the basis of spatio-temporal arrangement of geological elements and processes in combination with cores, well logs, seismic and chemical analytical data. The hydrocarbon accumulation occurred mostly in the middle part of the Jingsha Formation and the upper part of the Jinghezhen Formation (middle Eocene to late Pleistocene) as multiple exploration horizons, and thus may be explored with the aid of three-dimensional exploration strategy in order to improve the exploration efficiency.