Abstract: Deep strata of petroliferous basin refer to the formations with the buried depth more than 4 500 m. Till 2010, a total of 200 petroliferous basins have been discovered with the buried depth more than 4 500 m in the whole world, as well as 1 477 deep hydrocarbon reservoirs. In Tarim Basin, the proportion of discovered deep and ultra-deep hydrocarbon reserves was increased from 66 % in 2 000 to 92 % in 2013, indicating a huge exploration prospect. Over the past two decades, important achievements have been made in research of the following six subjects, i.e., deep structure and geological environment of petroliferous basin, effective reservoirs of deep clastic and carbonate rocks, origin and assessment method of deep hydrocarbons, deep hydrocarbon accumulation and distribution laws, deep hydrocarbon phase characteristics and reservoir preservation. At present, the exploration of deep hydrocarbon is facing a series of challenges. The research on seven aspects should be carried out to break through the current dilemma, including the improvement in the quality of deep data, the increase in deep information detection methods and data processing technologies, the enhancement of study on tectonic process and the evolutionary history of pressure and temperature field, the research on the dynamic process of hydrocarbon reservoir evolution, the enhancement in the research of hydrocarbon geochemistry and resource assessment, the studies with the aim to reveal the genetic mechanism of hydrocarbon reservoir under high temperature and high pressure, low porosity-low permeability and other unconventional conditions, the establishment of new theories for deep hydrocarbon geology and exploration, as well as the development of new matching technologies.