Hydrocarbon exploration in the Ordos Basin, China: Experience implications, fundamental research, and future priorities

The Ordos Basin, China's largest hydrocarbon production base, hosts abundant petroleum resources and is characterized by diverse exploration plays. This paper systematically reviews the history of hydrocarbon exploration in the basin, summarizes key insights, identifies existing fundamental research challenges, and proposes future exploration directions. This study synthesizes the evolutionary process of six major hydrocarbon fields and breakthrough advances in petroleum exploration, with particular emphasis on elucidating the theoretical frameworks, exploration methodologies, and practical outcomes in two key unconventional domains: shale oil and deep coalbed methane. The continuous breakthroughs in the basin's hydrocarbon exploration consistently reflected the core idea of liberating mind. The progressive exploration achievements demonstrate the “practice-cognition-repractice-recognition” cognitive approach, which yields significant implications for theoretical advancement, technological innovation, and management models. Overcomeing current exploration bottlenecks necessitates in-depth fundamental research on hydrocarbon source rock characterization, fault system architecture, and whole petroleum systems. Future strategic priorities should target four key domains: intra-source unconventional resources, large-scale reserve expansion of low-permeability reservoirs, efficient precision exploration in shallow formations, and frontier high-risk exploration for new plays and new strata. These efforts will support sustainable hydrocarbon production in the basin, and offer a reference template for analogous basins worldwide.