Basins are typically areas filled with sedimentary rocks. Three classes of basins, cathegorized by the way they are created, are proposed. Firstly cratonic basins due to the stretching of continental crust, secondly subductive troughs caused by tectonic collisions and finally basins occuring from plates drifting apart. Two types of filling such a basin with sediment are moreover presented: postdepositional and syndepositional.  || In the final part of the course, some case studies regarding oil and gas fields are elaborated on. These are: the Golden lane (Mexico), the Niger Delta, the Gabon basin, the gulf of Mexico, the North Sea and finally the Alaskan North slope.