1958, Sichuan Petroleum Institute was established in Nanchong, which was under the former Ministry of Petroleum Industry; 1970, renamed Southwest Petroleum Institute; In 2000, the school was transferred to Sichuan Province, which was jointly built by the central and local governments. In 2002, the main body of the school moved to Xindu District, Chengdu; In 2004, Sichuan University of Political Science and Law merged; In 2005, the school was renamed Southwest Petroleum University.

20 18 Sichuan Provincial People's Government, China Petroleum and Natural Gas Group Co., Ltd., China Petrochemical Corporation and China Offshore Oil Group Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement to build a world-class discipline construction university (Southwest Petroleum University).

By March 2022, the school has two campuses, Chengdu and Nanchong, with a total area of more than 3,000 mu. There are 19 teaching departments and 78 undergraduate majors; 5 in Post-Doctoral Research Center, the national "double first-class" construction discipline 1;

There are 5 first-class doctoral programs and 22 first-class master programs. At present, there are 39,788 students, including 3 102 1 undergraduate students, 72 19 graduate students, 65,438 doctoral students and 493 foreign students with academic qualifications.

As of April 2022, there are 2,776 teaching and administrative staff in the school, including 405 senior professional technicians and 8 10 deputy senior professional technicians. There are 2080 full-time teachers, including 3 academicians of China Academy of Engineering, 3 members of Science and Technology Committee of Ministry of Education 1 person, and 3 members of Teaching Steering Committee of Ministry of Education.

There are 2 winners of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 2 winners of the National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, 13 national candidates for the "Millions of Talents Project in the New Century", 1 person national cultural experts and "Four Groups" talent project candidates, and 60 experts enjoying special government subsidies from the State Council.