Abstract: Controlling factors on hydrocarbon accumulation in the North Sea Basin were studied in this paper based on previous research data. It reveals that there is a double-layer structure in the trifurcate rift grabens. The lower layer is a faulting structure formed by the movement of stretch rifting by the end of Late Jurassic, while the upper is a depressed structure formed by the thermal subsidence after Early Cretaceous. Most of the main faults occurs in the strata older than Cretaceous. The plays of hydrocarbon accumulation are Mesozoic fault-anticline sandstone controlled by the lower rift structure. Therefore, the rift stretching during Late Jurassic-Early Cretaceous is the main controlling factor to hydrocarbon accumulation.