Beam pumping units are main oil producing equipments in land-based oilfield. Oil producing energy consumption caused by beam pumping unit accounts for one third of the total energy consumption in oilfields. However, due to the structure of the system and operating conditions, the average load rate of pumping unit motor is very low, which is generally below 30%. In order to improve the utilization efficiency of oil recovery energy, many new technologies and methods have been put forward and tried by scientists and technicians, which have got good results; meanwhile, limitations and technical risks exist. Firstly, main sources of energy consumption are analyzed, and it is pointed out through comparison that the motors have the most potential in energy-saving. Then, the researches on improving electric efficiency of motor recently reported in public are classified and summarized. Relevant technical researches can be divided into three categories: (1) Improvement of mechanical transmission structure; (2) improvement of motor and its control technology; (3) adding energy-saving devices. Based on the background of offshore oil exploitation and shale oil and gas exploitation, through summarizing and analyzing various technical schemes, it is proposed that adding energy-saving devices to traditional pumping equipment will be the most effective technical direction for beam pumping units in the future. Among them, hydraulic hybrid energy-saving technology has more obvious advantages.