Abstract: In recent years, associated with the continuous advancement of mineral resources management reform in China, the original exploration procedures and mineral rights maintenance system of oil companies should be adjusted accordingly. As a result, the integration of exploration, reserve, and mineral rights with the core concept of “integrated research in all fields, integrated deployment in all aspects, and integrated operation in the whole process” has been proposed to realize the transformation from single-item scheme optimization to overall optimization and achieve the results of “1+1+1>3”. The integration of exploration, reserve, and mining rights mainly includes the following aspects: (1) Exploration discovery is the foundation, reserve evaluation is the key task, and the transformation from exploration to production is the ultimate goal. The systematic planning and collaborative promotion of the above three factors should be conducted to ensure the maximum comprehensive benefits of oil companies. (2) A big scientific research system based on the “three-dimensional integration” of technology, economy and policy should be constructed to consolidate the foundation for high-quality oil and gas discovery and high-efficiency transformation from exploration to production through high-quality scientific research; An integrated deployment system based on five key links of “drilling, fracturing, testing, production and sale” should be established, and the quality of deployment should be improved from the source by optimizing top-level design, dynamically optimizing and conducting real-time adjustments; A large operation system of “integration of various types of resources, and unified scheduling and operation” should be constructed, and the organization and operation of production should be optimized to ensure the improvement of speed, quality, and efficiency. (3) In the practice of exploration–reserve–mining rights integration, the “three unified” concept of conceptual identity, management consistency and technical collaboration should be established. From the conceptual perspective, the development consensus of maximum mineral rights interests should be kept in mind; The vertical integration and horizontal connection of management should be implemented, and the control mechanism of key nodes throughout the entire process should be constructed by integrating resources and optimizing procedures, so as to accelerate management reform and efficiency enhancement; The basic technological research should continuously been deepened, and the technological iteration and upgrade should be innovated to achieve the high-quality exploration breakthroughs and reserve increase on a large scale. The integration of exploration, reserve, and mining rights has been practiced in Nanchuan normal-pressure shale gas field in Southeast Sichuan Basin, obtaining remarkable results and developing a number of key technologies for exploration and development of normal-pressure shale gas, which have effectively supported the discovery and construction of Nanchuan normal-pressure shale gas field, with the new addition proven shale gas geological reserves of 1989.64×10⁸ m³, new established mining rights area of 314.5971 km², the cumulative new constructed shale gas production capacity of more than 26×10⁸ m³, and the cumulative shale gas production of more than 65×10⁸ m³ The application enables to build the first large-scale normal-pressure shale gas field in China that has been put into commercial development and achieve the high-efficiency transformation of the value of mineral rights, which has a positive role in unconventional oil and gas exploration and mineral rights management in China.

Key words: exploration–reserve–mining rights integration, shale gas field, big scientific research system, integrated deployment system, large operation system