Survey of Energy Resources 2007 Oil Shale Country Notes At the
beginning of the 1960s successful experimentation was carried
out on a sample of Kazakhstan's oil shale in the former Soviet
Republic of Estonia. Both domestic gas and shale oil were
produced. It was found that the resultant shale oil had a low-
enough sulphur content for the production of high-quality liquid
fuels. Beginning in early 1998 and lasting until end-2001, a
team funded by INTAS (an independent, international association
formed by the European Community to preserve and promote
scientific co-operation with the newly independent states)
undertook a project aimed at completely reevaluating
Kazakhstan's oil shales. The resultant report testified that
Kazakhstan's oil shale resources could sustain the production of
various chemical and power-generating fuel products. The
research undertaken concluded that the occurrence of oil shale
is widespread, the most important deposits having been
identified in western (the Cis-Urals group of deposits)