There are 16 foreland thrust belts in Midwestern China, and Chinas oil and gas resources are generally abundant. The recent discovery of natural gas in foreland thrust belts has confirmed that these belts are important areas and supplementation for reserves increasing. Since the year of 2011, two major breakthroughs have been made in Kuqa (deep gas) of the Tarim basin and in the southwestern margin (oil) of the Qaidam basin; two important progresses have been achieved in the northwestern margin (gas) of the Junggar basin and in the northwestern margin (natural gas) of the Sichuan basin; and three important signs of oil and natural gas have been identified in the southern margin of Junggar basin, southwestern margin of the Tarim basin and the western margin of the Ordos basin. All of these achievements have consolidated the resource base of West- to- East Gas Pipeline and promoted the exploration process for large oil and gas areas in foreland basins. The five aspects of innovative knowledge for geological research in foreland thrust belts have been obtained and they also enrich the theory of hydrocarbon accumulation in the central- western foreland thrust belts. They include basin prototype restoration and late tectonic transformation, deep structure characterization and structural analysis, reservoir evolution and oil and gas filling mechanism, fault- cap controlling pools pattern and 3- R evaluation method for effective hydrocarbon accumulation, characteristics of regional hydrocarbon accumulation and the distribution law of oil and gas. Four aspects of new progress have been made in the research and development of exploration matching technology, including complex structure modeling technology, deep domain seismic imaging technology of complex structure, comprehensive evaluation technology for complex oil and gas reservoirs, deep drilling and completion as well as reservoir fracturing technology for foreland thrust belts. All these have greatly promoted the foreland core technology formation and oil- gas exploration. Recent exploration in these belts presents not only great potential for increasing reserves but also the challenge of coexistence. This study obtained the three enlightenments about recent exploration and the potential of reservoir increasing through analyzing the characteristics and development trend of basic geology, oil- gas exploration and exploration technology in foreland thrust basins. In order to copy with future challenges in exploration production, geological research and technology, four strategies and deployment proposals for exploration and research are put forward.