Abstract: Muglad and Melut are the two basins richest in oil and gas resources in the Central African rift system. CNPC has found a large number of large oil fields in the two basins since its involvement in Sudan^’s oil and gas exploration in 1995. Currently, the two basins are in their mature exploration stage and need to have a new pattern of exploration to keep the oilfields for stable and sustainable development. Based on the petroleum geological conditions of Muglad and Melut basins and exploration activities, this paper elaborates on the necessity of exploration transformation in the two basins. Meanwhile, based on analogy with the similar domestic rift basins like Bohai Bay Basin and Songliao Basin, a new series of strata, lithological oil and gas reservoirs, offshore subaqueous fan, fan delta and deep-layer natural gas are clarified as the key areas in the two basins for potential oil exploration and development. Transformation of exploration in the two basins can be realized in three ^“shifts^” – shift from the main producing horizons to non-main producing horizons for multi-layer exploration, shift from structural oil reservoir to lithological oil reservoir for diversification of exploration targets to fully tap underground resources, and shift from single-reservoir exploration to overall deployment for deep-layers for unified appraisal on oil and gas reservoirs. The analogy research makes CNPC confident about exploration of Muglad and Melut basins and clear about the future exploration targets.