Abstract: Continental shale oil is a unique type of unconventional oil and gas resource in China, and has become an important field for increasing oil reserves and production in our country. By systematically elaborating the exploration and development history of Gulong shale oil in Songliao Basin, the paper summarizes the geological conditions for the enrichment and accumulation of continental shale oil, clarifies the resource potential, and points out the favorable zones for Gulong shale oil and the direction of further exploration and development. (1) Gulong shale oil mainly went through three exploration and development stages, i.e., mudstone fractured reservoir, interlayer-type shale oil and shale-type shale oil. (2) Gulong shale was originated from continental fresh water or brackish water lake basin, where lamellar algae were enriched, thus forming the organic-rich shale with wide distribution, large thickness and strong oil generation capacity. This lays the material foundation for the scale development of Gulong shale oil. (3) Gulong shale has a large number of micro-nano organic fractures for hydrocarbon generation, pores and natural fractures, providing the enrichment space and seepage channels for shale oil. (4) Gulong shale oil has a high degree of thermal evolution, and is generated in large amount from organic matters and preserved in-situ under overpressure, and the formation energy is sufficient, which are conducive to the development and production of shale oil. (5) Gulong shale oil has the roofs and floors with tight lithology and faults with good sealing characteristics, which provides macro preservation conditions for large-scale contiguous distribution of Gulong shale oil. (6) Gulong shale oil has the favorable zone of 1.46×10⁴km², which is a large-scale and continuous overpressure shale reservoir with the vast resources of (100-150) ×10⁸t. The light oil zone in Qijia-Gulong sag and the interior of Sanzhao sag are the core areas for exploration and development due to their superior geological conditions and good effects of oil well testing.