In this study, organic geochemical and petrological analyses were conducted on 111 shale samples from a well to understand the retention, intraformational migration and segmented accumulation (shale oil enrichment in different intervals is unconnected) features of shale oil within the organic-rich shale in the Qingshankou Formation of the Gulong Sag. Our study shows that retained petroleum characteristics in the investigated succession are mainly influenced by three factors: organic richness, intraformational migration and segmented accumulation. Organic matter richness primarily controls the amount of retained petroleum, especially the ‘live’ component indicated by the S2 value rather than the total organic carbon (TOC) figure alone. The negative expulsion efficiencies determined by mass-balance calculations of hydrocarbons reveal that petroleum from adjacent organic-rich intervals migrates into the interval of about 2386–2408 m, which is characterized by high free hydrocarbon (S1), OSI and saturated hydrocarbons content, along with a greater difference in δ13C values between polar compounds (including resins and asphaltenes) and saturated hydrocarbons. The depth-dependent heterogeneity of carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) of mud methane gas, δ13C of extracts gross composition (SARA), δ13C of kerogen and SARA content of extracts suggest that the studied succession can be subdivided into four intervals. The shale oil sealing enrichment character in each interval is further corroborated by the distinct δ13C values of mud methane gas in different intervals. Due to the migration of petroleum into the 2386–2408 m interval, the S1, OSI and saturated hydrocarbons content of the interval show higher relative values. The maturity of organic matter in the 2471–2500 m interval is at the highest with the smaller size molecular components of the retained petroleum. Thus, favorable ‘sweet spots’ may be found in the 2386–2408 m interval and the 2471–2500 m interval, according to the experiment results in this study.