The public benefit onshore oil and gas survey is to carry on basic， public and strategic exploration focused on new areas， new strata， new types and new fields. In recent years， many important geological discoveries and shale oil & gas survey breakthroughs have been made through a number of scientific and technological projects in oil and gas geological survey， making contributions to national energy security. However， the geological survey work on “new areas， new strata， new types and new fields” has the characteristics of many complex structural areas， low degree of work， few engineering practices and relative lack of data， which lead to the challenges of poor prediction of complex problems， high safety risk and difficult realization of geological objectives. With respect to the practice of oil and gas survey and drilling practice in recent years， this paper expounds the overall status， difficulties and challenges， and advances in the public benefit onshore oil and gas survey drilling engineering. From the perspectives of safety and environmental protection， obtaining full and exact geological data， increasing speed and reducing cost， some research suggestions are put forward to solve technical problems so as to promote the development and progress of the public benefit onshore oil and gas survey drilling engineering.