Abstract: In recent years, the reform of national oil and gas market system has continuously been deepened, and competitive transfer has become the main method to acquire new exploration rights. Since the implementation of the “Opinions on Several Issues Concerning the Promotion of Mineral Resources Management Reform (Trial)” (Natural Resources Regulation (2019) No. 7 ), the government has listed and transferred 66 oil and gas exploration rights for 14 rounds, with an area of 4.19×10⁴km² and a total transaction price of 9.316 billion RMB. Based on the review of the reform process of national mineral resources management, the characteristics of the reform of exploration rights transfer system in different stages, the innovative measures of oil and gas enterprises to actively participate in the reform, and the exploration practice in the competitive transferred blocks are systematically studied. The results show that: (1) The reform of exploration rights transfer system is divided into three stages, i.e., pilot oil and gas reform, issuance of competitive transfer policy, and full implementation of competitive transfer, showing specified characteristics in each stage. (2) In order to actively respond to the fierce competition, PetroChina and other enterprises have innovated management measures, established rapid response mechanism and management system for the competitive transfer, and formed a set of assessment methods and technical processes for evaluating the block value. (3) Some good results have been achieved in the exploration practice in the transferred blocks. However, except for capacity construction in Wensu block by Zhongman Petroleum, the overall oil and gas discovery is few, and most of the blocks have been withdrawn. The competitive transfer of oil and gas exploration rights has played an important role in promoting exploration investment of enterprises and ensuring national energy security, initially forming diversified oil and gas market. In order to realize the high-efficiency utilization of resources, and truly realize the win-win situation of ensuring national energy security and effectively cultivating healthy competition in oil and gas exploration rights market, several suggestions are put forward, including further improving the competitive transfer management system, establishing a national energy security base, and conducting post-evaluation of the transferred blocks.