Cenozoic Sumatra back-arc basins include Sumatra North, Sumatra Central and Sumatra South ones in Sumatra Island, Indonesia. These basins have undergone the evolution stages from Eocene-Oligocene syn-rifting through Oligocene-Middle Miocene post-rifting to Middle Miocene-Pliocene tectonic inversion. According to rifting and reservoir characteristics, four different plays, i.e. the upper, the middle, the lower and the deeper ones, can be rec-ognized. The deeper and lower plays are characteristic of syn-rifting terrestrial sandstone reservoirs and transitional sandstone reservoirs while the middle and upper plays are characteristic of post-rifting marine carbonate reservoirs and transitional facies sandstone reservoirs. It is indicated that the middle play is of the most significant potential among these plays.