Abstract: In the twentieth century, secondary recovery technology for the formation pressure maintenance by injecting water developed greatly after the primary depletion technique. Althrough it have got better and better practically and theoretically, the resultant recovery is still low. In this case the tertiary recovery technology inevitably appears. Its objective is to extract the remaining oil in the waterflooded field by charging the properties of the drive media. In the late twentieth century the appearance and development of the tertiary recovery technology is indicative of a coming revolutionary evolution of oilfield development technology in the 21st century. To enable the tertiary recovery process to act as a dominant tool in the next centuries, the following key issue must be solved: improving the displacement performance of the displacement media, reducing the cost of displacement media, study of enhanced tertiary recovery process and technique, produced fluid disposal, and erection of injection system and gathering transportation system specifically designed for the tertiary recovery.

Key words: Oilfield development, Primary recovery, Natural energy, Secondary recovery, Water injection, Tertiary recovery, Displacing agent, Recovery