Affected by the global COVID-19 and middle/low oil prices, the exploration investment has been running at a low level and the exploration workload has fallen in 2021. However, oil companies have focused on frontier exploration fields and key areas of exploration and development. Through deepening geological understanding and improving trap identification ability, the success rate of exploration has continued to be improved. Offshore exploration, especially deepwater and ultra-deepwater large discoveries, continues to emerge, and major international oil companies are responsible for the discovery of transnational giant and medium-sized oil and gas fields, which is mainly located in "one ocean, one bay and one sea" (both sides of the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico and the southern Caspian Sea). Through the analysis of deepwater and ultra-deepwater typical oil and gas fields, three characteristics are summarized. Firstly, by paying close attention to the oil and gas bearing basin, a series of pre-salt oil and gas discoveries were made in Brazil after an interval of eight years. Secondly, by accumulating knowledge and strategic return, Eni has successively found oil fields in the Cote d'Ivoire basin. Thirdly, by development first and expanding the surrounding areas, bp has found giant fields in the South Caspian Sea. In view of the practice of the major international oil companies in carrying out transnational deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration, three enlightenments are summarized. Firstly, farming in in advance,in the way of seizing the favorable exploration domains, and flexibly farming in and farming out. Secondly, following the strategy, constantly accumulating experience and technology to steadily improve strength. Thirdly, Independent exploration, mastering key core technologies to achieve exploration efficiency. Chinese oil companies still need to seize all opportunities to actively obtain favorable exploration blocks, form effective reserves of resources, and realize the leap from "going out" to "going up" through "one transformation and three strengthening".

In 2021, the contradiction between supply and demand of natural gas in various regions around the world was prominent caused by multiple factors, such as the improved situation of the global COVID-19, slowly recovered world economy, resumed growth of energy consumption, intertwined geopolitical and financial risks, significantly risen and violently fluctuated energy prices. The global natural gas development trend is predicted by analyzing the development direction of the petroleum industry, natural gas supply and demand base level,change trend of trade volume, and natural gas reserves distribution and production change. The results show that natural gas reserves are abundant in the world, and the investment in natural gas exploration and development has rebounded driven by demand growth and price rise;The proportion of natural gas in the world energy consumption structure is increasing, which plays an important role in promoting the global energy transition; The global supply and demand of natural gas shows a pattern of “tight balance”, in which the Asia Pacific region is the major importer of natural gas, and it is expected that natural gas will surpass oil to become the world’s largest energy. In the future, it is suggested that China should actively adjust its energy strategy, enhance its linkage with the international energy market, improve the energy prices monitoring and judgement mechanism, timely adjust its foreign strategic cooperation in energy business, increase domestic investment in natural gas exploration and development, enhance multilateral international energy cooperation, and stick to the bottom line of energy security, accelerate the construction of natural gas operation system integrating “reserve increase, supply secure and price stabilization”, and improve the ability to respond to crises, so as to better cope with the challenges posed by global energy development and natural gas market fluctuations.

Affected by Russia-Ukraine conflicts and slow decarbonization process, the global natural gas market presents a new development trend in 2022. Based on the judgment of global natural gas price and supply and demand situation, the cost prices of LNG projects are analyzed, and the integrated development strategies of low-cost natural gas of international oil companies (IOCs) are researched. The results show that the global natural gas market is in the premium stage. The demand side is long-term bullish, while the supply side responses rapidly. The volume of long-trade nature gas contracts has significantly increased. Driven by requirements of dual carbon and cost reduction and benefits increase, the unit cost of key LNG projects of IOCs generally shows a downtrend. In the next 10 years, IOCs will continue to expand the natural gas industry chain by increasing the proportion of natural gas and LNG production, increasing the low-carbon investment and renewable energy expenditure, developing CCUS (carbon capture, utilization and storage) technology for zero carbon emissions, and building an integrated development mode of natural gas business chain. Finally, it is suggested that Chinese oil companies should continue to highlight the leading position of natural gas, increase the investment in natural gas /LNG business, build a powerful LNG project reserve, transform from the traditional integrated upstream and downstream to the integration of business chain, and reduce carbon emissions of traditional natural gas business by applying CCUS technology.

In recent years, the worldwide pandemics, geopolitical conflicts, and energy transition have been intertwined, and the petroleum industry has undergone profound changes. The development strategies of major oil companies are worthy of reference. By analyzing the fundamental dynamics and development strategies and tendencies of major international oil companies in the new context, their dynamic development features are summarized as follows: (1) International oil companies have recovered better than anticipated in the new context, but investments in traditional upstream businesses remain low while low-carbon investments continue to increase; (2) National oil corporations start to focus on low-carbon transition while actively promoting exploration and development of local resources; (3) Independent oil companies continue to reduce debts and consolidate core assets to achieve regional synergies. The study results indicate that: (1) Major oil companies gradually contract their global upstream business layout and concentrate more on their core assets and core areas; (2) Unconventional oil and gas businesses are severely impacted by energy transition strategies, and European and American oil companies are evidently differentiated; (3) International oil companies continue to increase low-carbon inves tments and take multiple measures to promote ener gy transition; (4) Vigorously develop natural gas business and expand natural gas value chain. It is recommended that Chinese oil companies should continue to increase investments in upstream business, actively acquire high-quality overseas resources to ensure energy security,strengthen their ties with national oil corporations, promote the construction of core production areas, strengthen the coordinated development of oil and gas and new energy businesses, strengthen risk management awareness, and employ economic means to escort the sustainable development.

In the context of promoting carbon emission reduction globally, more and more countries adopt carbon pricing tools to manage and guide carbon emission behavior through economic means. The scope of the international carbon pricing mechanism has expanded continuously, and the carbon price level and the carbon pricing income have risen significantly. However, the international carbon price level is still far below that achieving the temperature control goal in the “Paris Agreement”, and the problem of unbalanced regional development is prominent, showing that the carbon pricing mechanism is mainly implemented in European and American countries, and there is a huge gap in carbon pricing income between developed countries and developing countries. Associated with the acceleration of global climate governance,the international carbon pricing mechanism shows a strengthened trend, with steady growth in quantity and a wave like spiral rise in price level. Although developing countries have accelerated the development of emission trading system and carbon tax, it is difficult to bridge the huge gap between developing and developed countries in the short term. While developed countries have accelerated the construction of carbon border adjustment mechanism, but there is a great uncertainty in the prospects and effects. Under this circumstance, the current carbon pricing mechanism has a relatively limited impact on the petroleum industry, and resource countries prefer to adopt scientific and rational tax design to balance carbon reduction and their own development interests. The development of the international carbon pricing mechanism will promote the low-carbon transition of the petroleum industry in the future. In terms of the government level, it is suggested to strengthen national policy guidance, expand the scope of carbon trading market, build a carbon emission accounting system, as well as reasonably design the tax system.At the industry level, the impact of carbon trading on the petroleum industry should highly be attached, R&D innovation should vigorously be strengthened to promote carbon emission reduction, and the development trend of carbon pricing mechanism of foreign resource countries should closely be tracked, to actively manage carbon price risks of overseas investment projects.

Over the past 10 years, remarkable progress has been made in petroleum exploration in Russian Arctic by adhering to self-reliance and self-improvement, as well as actively maintaining strategic focus, which further confirm the huge exploration and development potential and show promising prospects for cooperation. The systematic organization and summary of the current situation of petroleum exploration and major new achievements in Russian Arctic region enable to identify the main exploration orientation in the future and propose the relevant cooperation suggestions. The exploration activities in Russian Arctic region experienced a long history, but oil and gas discoveries were mainly concentrated in the western region; While the general survey will be dominant for a long period in the vast sea areas in the eastern region, and the substantial progress with economic benefits will hard to be made for a long time in the future; Since 2010, most of the new oil and gas discoveries have been made in the western region, with the most fruitful achievements in the South Kara Sea area; The western and central sea shelves are the key orientation for future exploration. It shows broad cooperation prospects between China and Russia in Arctic region. The cooperation on two types of assets should actively be deepened by relying on existing projects. Meanwhile, the medium and long-term goals as well as the advanced reserves of project operation capability should be prepared based on the long-term planning.

Esso and other international companies had conducted exploration in Termit Basin for 36 years and withdrawn since no commercial reserves were discovered. In 2003, CNPC participated in the petroleum exploration in Termit Basin and implemented the exploration strategy of “step-by-step” by integrating the technical evaluation and business operation. On the one hand, the progressive exploration in the western part of the basin with discoveries was conducted to determine the proven reserves, and on the other hand, the main oil-bearing series and exploration orientation were defined by studying on the core geological problems. The results show that: (1) Termit Basin was a superimposed rift basin experienced two stages of rift and two stages of depression and suffered transgression in the Late Cretaceous, showing different characteristics form other continental rift basins in Central and Western Africa; (2) The main reservoir and cap rock assemblage was formed by the interbedded sandstone and mudstone in the Lower Paleogene and the regional mudstone in the Upper Paleogene; (3) The hydrocarbon accumulation mode in marine and continental superimposed rift basin was continuously researched and established, supporting to discover four oilfield groups with reserve level of hundred million tons, which was a typical successful case of overseas independent exploration. The implications include: (1) The integration of technical evaluation and business operation is an important reason for block acquisition in Niger; (2) The application of petroleum geology theory and technology of continental rift basin is the prerequisite for successful exploration in Termit Basin; (3) An appropriate hydrocarbon accumulation mode in Termit Basin is the key factor for achieving the major exploration breakthrough.

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.

In 2021, oil and gas production of national oil companies accounted for nearly 50% of the total amount in the world. On the other hand, national oil companies are facing huge pressure of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. In order to adapt to the changing energy market,the latest performance of national oil companies in the context of energy transition is analyzed, and relevant suggestions are proposed based on China’s national conditions and the actual situation of oil and gas supply. The analysis results show that Chinese oil companies should integrate traditional energy and new energy, and gradually transfer to alternative energy resources, so as to achieve stable energy supply and sustainable development. First, the trend of decarbonization should closely be followed and carbon emission reduction requirements should strictly be complied; Second, the asset portfolio should be optimized to decentralize key risks; Third, the leadership of technological innovation should be strengthened and the CCUS industrial chain system should be built; Fourth, research and innovation should be implemented, and the development of new energy fields should be diversified.

In order to conform to the trend of global climate governance and energy structure transition, seven major international oil companies (IOCs) have proposed the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. Although European and American companies have great differences in the details of the goals, they have generally moved forward from strategic wait-and-see to strategic implementation in terms of the low-carbon transformation. Specifically, international oil companies have implemented practical measures such as significantly increasing investment in low-carbon and new energy businesses, rapidly deploying low-carbon and new energy businesses by M&A and direct investment,and developing low-carbon and new energy technology research and development by cooperation. At present, the main low-carbon and new energy development fields of international oil companies include wind power generation, solar power generation, CCUS and hydrogen energy. By considering China’s actual conditions and enterprises’ own characteristics, Chinese oil and gas companies should appropriately increase investment in low-carbon and new energy businesses on the premise of maintaining the core position of oil and gas business, focus on both carbon emission reduction and carbon utilization, rationally layout new energy business, and actively cooperate on technology research and development.

The major countries are classified into three types of economic growth-energy consumption driven type, energy production driven type, and economic growth-energy production/consumption driven type. Then the carbon emission history is reviewed and the development characteristics are analyzed of these countries. Among them, the carbon emission trend of economic growth-energy consumption driven type countries conforms to the inverted “U” shaped environmental Kuznets curve. The energy production and carbon emission show a “double high” positive correlation of energy production driven type countries. While the carbon emission trend of economic growth-energy production/consumption driven type countries is characterized by “L” shape and inverted “L” shape curves. Driven by various factors, the carbon neutrality policies of the European Union, resource countries in various regions, and the United States are categorized into three types of leading, following and independent types, and the key policies are interpreted in detail. On this basis, it is suggested to properly handle the relationship between economic recovery and low-carbon development, diversify low-carbon development policies, strengthen research on climate transition policies and market, and put forward preparatory plans to cope with the policy adjustment of resource countries. On the other hand, communication with energy production countries, energy consumption countries, and major carbon emission countries should be strengthened, and dialogue platforms for low-carbon development at international and industrial levels should be built.

In recent years, the deep-water area in the passive continental margin has become a hotspot of global petroleum exploration, and the large-scale new oil and gas fields are mostly discovered in sea area, especially the deep-water area. Therefore, a unified analysis of tectonic evolution and sediments filling of a group of basins at the same continental margin, and the geological characteristics study of the discovered oil and gas fields, as well as the defined hydrocarbon accumulation conditions and patterns will provide important guidance to screen regional-level favorable oil and gas plays and acquire new projects. By using oil and gas field data base, such as IHS and Wood Mackenzie, and integrating with the new discoveries and internal evaluation data of new venture projects, the geological settings and hydrocarbon accumulation conditions of nine basins in the deep-water area in East Africa are systematically analyzed, and the favorable oil and gas plays in deep-water area are proposed. The study results show that the basin group in East African sea area experienced three stages of tectonic evolution, i.e., Karoo rift in the Early Carboniferous-Triassic, Madagascar rift in the Jurassic, and passive continental margin since the Cretaceous. Jointly controlled by transfer faults in the Indian Ocean, extensional fault system at the continental margin, and fault system in the East African rift system, the basement faults are divided into four tectonic segments from north to south, and significantly different section structure and sediment filling characteristics show in various basin segments. Three sets of source rocks were developed in East African sea area, including the Lower Jurassic, Middle-Upper Jurassic to Cretaceous and Paleogene. Two types of superior reservoirs of marine turbidite sandstone and delta sandstone were deposited, which formed a good reservoir and cap rock assemblage associated with the regional massive marine shale. Three sets of deep-water hydrocarbon accumulation assemblages are identified, including two proven assemblages in the Cenozoic and Cretaceous, as well as the inferred assemblage in the Upper Permian-Jurassic. Three types of deep-water hydrocarbon accumulation patterns are established: (1) hydrocarbon generation and supply in the early-middle stage of drift period and hydrocarbon accumulation during the drift period; (2) hydrocarbon generation and supply during the rift period and early stage of drift period, and hydrocarbon accumulation in the riftdrift period; (3) hydrocarbon generation and supply in the rift period, and hydrocarbon accumulation in the drift period. Two types of deepwater fan bodies were formed in the passive continental margin period in East African sea area, namely the fan complex mixed by the largescale delta and deep-water gravity flow sediments, and the nearshore superimposed small fan lobes dominated by slumping and without any material supply from the large-scale paleo rivers. The Paleogene favorable deep-water oil and gas plays have certain inheritance to those of the Cretaceous, which are mainly developed in the southern Tanzania Basin and the northern Rovuma Basin, and the exploration targets are dominated by natural gas and clastic rocks.

In the context of the continuous adjustment and reconstruction of the world economic pattern, changes in the international energy situation, and structural reform of the petroleum industry, specific cooperative development mode has been formed in large oil and gas fields, so as to achieve the high-efficiency promotion of oil and gas development projects and high-quality development of oil companies.The development status of global main oil and gas fields are systematically reviewed, and the regional distribution, production and reserve distribution, reserve-production ratio and variation of production rate of main oil and gas fields are identified. The cooperative development modes of main oil and gas fields are summarized and analyzed from six aspects, including the main contract modes, operation modes,shareholding strategies of international oil companies, and development characteristics in different stages, to determine the influence of resource types, development stages and other invisible factors on project benefits. On this basis, understanding and enlightenment are obtained in four aspects: (1) The capacity construction of the main oil and gas fields is highly regular, in which the appropriate entry time and method are particularly important; (2) Onshore conventional crude oil provides the main part of profits, and the main deep-water oil fields are the key development fields in the future; (3) The core assets of international oil companies contribute significantly to the production, and the core production areas are of great strategic significance; (4) Chinese oil companies should continuously track the trading trend of international oil companies and strive for opportunities for cooperative development of large oil and gas fields. Facing the international oil and gas market,Chinese oil companies should fully refer to the cooperative development experience of global main oil and gas fields, as well as promote their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, so as to ensure the high-quality development of the strategy of “going global”.

Under the new situation, PetroChina’s overseas exploration business faces double challenges in the large-scale expansion of the stock exploration assets and acquisition of the new high-quality exploration assets, showing the unclear orientation in the future, which is an issue to be solved urgently. Based on the operation cycle of overseas exploration business and the key exploration indicators, three indexes of exploration investment, value return and exploration risk in strategic dimension are proposed. Then the development achievements of the seven major international oil companies, including bp, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Eni, Chevron, Equinor and Shell, in 10 years from 2010 to 2019 are analyzed and five strategic types are classified, namely the low risk-low investment-high return type, high risk-high investment-low return type, high risk-low investment-low return type, low risk-high investment-low return type and low risk-low investment-low return type.Furthermore, the stories behind the realization of their exploration strategic objectives are analyzed for reference.

For the sake of providing global petroleum geology and resources information to domestic petroleum industry employees, oil companies and social public, and hopefully boosting the acquisition and utilization of overseas resources, the Global Petroleum Resources Information System professional website has been developed and constructed by integrating the network-based petroleum geological knowledge management application system and professional website construction technology. In this information system, a series of data are publicly released online, including the independent research results such as petroleum geological characteristics, hydrocarbon enrichment and distribution rules, and resources potential of the major petroliferous basins in overseas areas, major regions and the whole world, as well as dynamic information of global petroleum industry and practical public industrial information. In addition, several key technologies have innovatively been developed, including knowledge fragmentation management of global petroleum resources assessment and automatic generation of standardized report,automatic acquisition and release of dynamic network resources, data driven automatic summarization and updating of petroleum resources assessment results, and automatic generation of template reports and forms, which effectively provide data, information and knowledge support services for scientific research and decision making of overseas oil and gas business, showing good application prospects.