Knowledge of the timing and location of petroleum formation is important in assessing the extent of available reserves in hydrocarbon-forming basins. This can be predicted from the thermal history of a basin and the kinetic parameters that characterize the thermal breakdown of kerogen in source rocks. At present, the kinetic parameters of kerogen breakdown are experimentally determined using immature rock samples from basin margins, but questions remain about the accuracy of this approach, especially when significant variability is observed within individual source units. Here we show that the kinetics of hydrocarbon generation from petroleum asphaltenes can be used to determine the temperature conditions of the actual source rock at the time of expulsion of the sampled petroleum. This relationship reflects the structural similarity of asphaltenes to the parent kerogen. We expect that our approach may be used as a comparatively simple alternative method for assessing the petroleum generation characteristics of a given basin, which will allow for better estimates of the available oil resources and the risks associated with their exploration.