Abstract: Ten special projects of investigation and evaluation of countrywide strategic petroleum area selection have been carried out now, which include oil and gas survey in onshore frontier areas, offshore areas, new fields, new strata and new petroleum accumulation types in mature petroleum-bearing areas, low exploration success ratio areas and basins, and areas with complicated surface and topographic conditions. On the whole, these areas are underexplored. During petroleum investigations and evaluation, especially in the early stage, the source rock appraisal is the most important work in these areas and the study of the thermal evolution of source rocks is one of the most important content in source rock appraisal. In addition, the source rock thermal evolution in the basin has great influence on oil and gas distribution, and the thermal history reflects the origin and evolution of sedimentary basin from another aspect, so it has great significance for guiding petroleum exploration.