To overcome the impact of low oil price on Chinese petroleum companies`s oversea strategic investment, to prepare for the risks and to improve efficiency in overseas oil exploration and development, this paper analyzes the background of low oil price and its trend, studies the measurements that international companies took for the low oil price, and summarizes the current overseas exploration situation of Chinese petroleum companies and global oil gas resources and trend. Geopolitical gaming and interest conflicts are the major factors in stirring the oil price. A good practice at the low oil price taken by international companies is to optimize assets in pursuit of co-integration effect, to diminish investment and to transfer oil gas business into low cost and low risk domains. This paper presents suggestions for Chinese oil companies against low oil price on controlling cost, adjusting structure, optimizing project allocation and maximizing investment benefits, focusing on the co-integrated effect of existing projects with prospects, weighing the proportion of targets exploration and strategic exploration by appropriately using capital, and acquiring highquality projects under low oil price.

The U.S. is abundantboth in conventional and unconventionaloilgas resources.The former is mainly hosted in foreland basins, and the latter is represented by compact oil and shale gas. This paper, based on a survey of America’s oilgas resources and upstream market, concludes that the opportunities in developing America’s oilgas resources lie in the periodic rebound of global oilgas prices, America’s open and steady market, diversified operation in unconventional domain, and strong cooperation will among energy companies. America’s oilgas exploration is extending to the deep, marine and nanometer reservoir. Giant and large oil companies dominate or semidominate market. Political barriers prevent gaining quality conventional oilgas projects. Above are challenges in investing America’s upstream oilgas market. Chinese investors, aiming at economic benefits, consolidating resource, minimizing risks and steadily developing quality oilgas assets and stripping nonperforming assets, adopt flexible strategies to acquire or participate the share ofoilgas assets. 

This paper, based on the 2008 edition of the BP statistical review of world energy, gives an introduction to China’s reserves and production of oil, natural gas, coal and comsumption of primary energy(including oil, natural gas, coal, hydropower and nuclear energy), which has been compared among other countries. China is a big nation to produce and import oil. The proved gas reserve and production continue to increase to make China one of the top ten gas producers. China with abundant coal reserves ranks the third in remaining coal reserves and is the largest to produce coal. The gross primary energy consumption is only lower than the America, of which the coal is of bigger proportion and the oil and gas are lower than the world’s average.