Challenges and Efficient Operation Mechanism of Shale Oil Exploration and Development in China

China has abundant shale oil resources and has made significant exploration and development breakthroughs in multiple basins, which unveils a new field for implementing China’s petroleum strategy. However, the exploration and development of shale oil in China has a relatively short history, and the top-level strategic planning and policy guidance are not yet clear. There are a series of issues to be solved such as difficulties in exploration breakthroughs, high development costs, and inefficient organizational operation, etc. To this end, a comprehensive literature review was conducted to explore the current status of shale oil management concept, macro environment, resource allocation, production and operation, science and technology level, and informatization state in China and the U.S, and in-depth considerations were performed to fully understand the pain points, difficulties, and obstacles of shale oil exploration and development in China. It is believed that currently there are four major challenges in shale oil exploration and development in China, including conceptual thinking, technical capabilities, operation management, and green developmentl etc. Based on the national energy strategy, countermeasures and suggestions were proposed to achieve efficient operation of shale oil in China, including implementing shale oil development strategy in a steady manner, building a strategic cooperative community with multi-subject integration under the market mechanism, creating a new mode of production and operation with multi-force collaboration, establishing a new mechanism of iterative technological development and innovation, developing a new information support paradigm empowered by digital intelligence, opening a new landscape of green and low-carbon industrial development, and fostering a new highly compatible and friendly external operation environment.