Abstract: It is of great practical and strategic importance to march deeper into the earth to explore deep oil and gas resources and to build up a solid resource base for energy security in China. There is therefore also a pragmatic imperative to increase the intensity of oil and gas exploration and development in China. Based on an exhaustive summary of the global situation in deep oil and gas exploration and development, and the progress that has already been made by China, the development potential, key research fields and scientific and technological research directions of deep oil and gas in China are comprehensively analyzed in this paper. China is rich in deep oil and gas resources, but with a generally low degree of exploration and development. There are many promising exploration and development prospects with great resource potential, such as multiple source-reservoir-cap assemblages in the deep formations of superimposed basins in Central and Western China, deep lithological reservoirs and Pre-Mesozoic-Cenozoic buried-hill reservoirs in fault basins in Eastern China, deep shale gas, etc. These are the principal directions for future exploration and development. It is necessary to strengthen research on the accumulation mechanisms and distribution laws of deep oil and gas, as well as the flow mechanisms of deep fluids, and to carry out key technical research, such as deep target identification and prediction based on geophysics, optimized fast drilling under complex formation conditions, and stimulation technologies for complex reservoirs. At the same time, it is also necessary to vigorously promote innovation in management, further enhance cooperation between theory and technology and between enterprises and departments, and to strengthen the management and operation of exploration-development integration and geology-engineering integration. This will provide strong support for the efficient exploration and development of deep oil and gas resources.