Abstract: Against the backdrop of the global oil and gas industry’s transition into the unconventional era, the practices and implications of U.S. fiscal and industrial policies in facilitating the rapid development of unconventional oil and gas resources have garnered significant attention from both industrial and academic circles. Consequently, a comparative study of Chinese and American unconventional oil and gas policies has been conducted to analyze their similarities and differences, thereby proposing policy recommendations for China’s unconventional oil and gas development. Research indicates that the United States has implemented a series of substantial, long-term preferential policies for unconventional resources characterized by foresight, continuity, remarkable effectiveness, and synergistic interaction between policy and technological advancement, which served as crucial drivers for the success of the shale revolution and ultimately energy independence. While comparative analysis reveals similarities in policy contexts, objectives, support mechanisms, and market-oriented frameworks as fundamental premises, China’s unconventional oil and gas policies lack systematic integration, resulting in insufficient coordination between industrial development and policy implementation. In the unconventional gas sector, although subsidy policies have been implemented for years with notable achievements, policy continuity remains inadequate. For unconventional oil, shale oil development faces increasingly challenging reservoirs with growing technical difficulties and constrained cost-reduction potential. Among PetroChina’s three major shale oil production bases: the Changqing Oilfield is transitioning from Type I+II₁ reservoirs in the Chang-7 formation to less continuous, thinner single-layer II₂ reservoirs while expanding development into overlapping water-flooding zones; the Daqing Oilfield, while accelerating large-scale production in the Q9 reservoir and expanding exploration, is shifting toward Q1-Q8 reservoirs with rising clay content where Q2-Q3 intervals exhibit poor brittleness, limited fracture height and low estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) per well; and the Xinjiang Oilfield is transitioning from Jimsar to the more extensive, challenging, and capitalintensive Mabei Fengcheng Formation. However, policy support for shale oil remains essentially absent. Essentially, fostering unconventional oil and gas development constitutes a systematic project requiring coordinated efforts including national policy backing, local government cultivation,support from parent corporations of oilfield companies, and internal quality-efficiency enhancements by oilfield operators. Through a synergistic “four-in-one” policy linkage model, China can promote and refine its fiscal and taxation framework for unconventional resources. Looking forward,with relevant policy support, petroleum enterprises must accelerate cost-reduction and efficiency-gain initiatives in shale oil and gas development, leveraging technological innovation and managerial optimization to uphold efficient exploration and profitable development, thereby gradually diminishing policy dependence and achieving sustainable utilization of unconventional resources.

Key words: unconventional oil and gas, fiscal policies, policy recommendations, United States, China