The concept of plate tectonics offers a useful framework for structural geological analysis on all relevant scales in petroleum geology, from regional in the exploration stage, to local in the reservoir evaluation and production stages. This is natural, because the principal geological stress systems are ruled by processes in the deep earth like mantle convection and lithosphere subduction, the secondary effects of which are manifested at the base of the lithosphere and along plate margins. Based on these concepts, the basic dynamics of the lithosphere can be quantified, which is a prerequisite for the evaluation and calculation of the state of stress at any point. As seen in the perspective of the petroleum structural geologist, understanding and quantifying the stress situation at the plate margins is a prerequisite for understanding the state of stress in any basin system and in any reservoir.