How is oil shale made?
Oil shale
Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced, called shale oil (not to be confused with tight oil—crude oil occurring naturally in shales). Shale oil is a substitute for conventional crude oil; however, extracting shale oil from oil shale is more costly than the production of conventional crude oil both financially and in terms of its environmental impact. Deposits of oil shale occur around the world, including major deposits in the United States. A 2016 estimate of global deposits set the total world resources of oil shale equivalent of of oil in place.
History of the oil shale industry
In China, the "Refinery No. 2" of Fushun began its production in 1954 and in 1959, the maximum annual shale oil production increased to 780,000 tonnes. The produced shale oil was used for producing light liquid fuels. In 1961, China was producing one third of its total oil production from oil shale. Afterwards the shale oil production decreased due to the discovery of Daqing oil field and increased production of the cheaper conventional petroleum.