Deep oil and gas resources in the South China Sea have drawn increasing attention in recent years, involving several essential challenges such as favorable zone prediction, deep burial, poor data quality, non-homogeneous reservoir properties, low drilling rate, and the low research degree of Paleozoic strata. These issues vastly affect the exploration and development of deep oil and gas resources in this area. Specifically, the Lufeng and Huizhou Depressions exhibit rich hydrocarbon accumulation and distribution areas in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, thereby possess great resource potential. The seven papers discussed here propose a set of practical techniques that can be applied to the exploration of deep Paleogene in the shallow layers of the Pearl River Mouth Basin. All of these works make important contributions deepening the theory of Paleogene reservoir formation and promoting further exploration of Paleogene in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, to increase the hydrocarbon storage and production prospects.

In this paper, taking the Lufeng Depression as the study object, the distribution characteristics and reservoir-controlling conditions of palaeo-uplift are analyzed from both qualitative and quantitative perspectives. The distribution characteristics of the three-level palaeo-uplift structural pattern are elucidated, which show that the palaeo-uplifts went through three structural evolutionary stages: Eocene, Early-Middle Miocene, and Late Miocene, with long-term inherited development characteristics. Palaeo-uplift controls the distribution of hydrocarbon planes, the direction of dominant hydrocarbon transport, the development of various traps, and the types of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Applying the principle and method of "multi-element matching reservoir formation model", the corresponding geological and mathematical models are established, which indicate that 86.29% of the number of reservoirs are distributed on the top and slope of the palaeo-uplift, and the reserves and number decrease with the distance to the top of the palaeo-uplift. Based on the palaeo-uplift control model, four high-probability areas for palaeo-uplift control in the Wenchang and Enping Fms are predicted, which are mainly located in the Lufeng middle-low uplift, the Dongsha uplift, and uplifts within the depression.