To assess the prospects for prospecting for regional oil and gas accumulations, it is importance to study the main factors that control the development of the processes of oil and gas formation and accumulation in the earth's crust and the criteria for predicting the oil and gas content of the subsoil arising from this study. A comprehensive study of geophysical, geological, tectonic, lithofacies, petrophysical and a number of other factors of oil and gas content and their changes in space over time make it possible to develop the foundations of the main criteria for predicting the distribution of oil and gas territories and the development of hydrocarbon deposits. In order to assess the prospects for prospecting for oil and gas accumulations in the lower section of the PT of the western side of the South Caspian Basin (SCV), based on the available material and taking into account a large number of published works, we considered tectonic criteria and preservation conditions for the formed hydrocarbon accumulations in the South Absheron archipelago., in the example of the Gum-Deniz and Bahar deposits.