Abstract: With the accelerating pace of energy industry transformation from fossil energy to clean and green energy, the upstream assets of international oil companies have shifted from rapid growth to strategic contraction, showing increasingly prominent trend of asset “refocusing”. The characteristics of overseas core production areas of typical international oil companies are analyzed by benchmarking, and the current situation and existing problems of overseas core production areas of Chinese oil companies are further analyzed. The research results show that international oil companies, regardless of their size, have 1-6 overseas oil and gas core production areas, which are diversified and show different preferences; The overseas core production areas have contributed more than 60% of the profits to the overseas upstream business of the seven major international oil companies. Chinese oil companies have been “walking out” for nearly 30 years, and have achieved remarkable results. They have won a number of exploration and development projects in 46 countries around the world, and the oil and gas equity production equivalent has reached 1.8×10⁸t per year. However, the core production areas are characterized by relatively small number, single asset structure, weak ability to create benefit, and few potential assets for capacity construction and production increase. Finally, it is proposed that Chinese oil companies should formulate medium-term and long-term development strategy and roadmap for overseas business as soon as possible in response to energy transformation, and make advanced layout, so as to lay resource base for the construction of core production areas in the future.