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Oil shale is the rock from which shale oil is extracted. As it reaches its oil window, oil shale releases a liquid known as shale oil. Oil Shale, Shale Oil, and Oil-Bearing ShaleOil shale, shale oil, and oil-bearing shale are three different substances. Although not all of this can be extracted, it is more than three times the proven petroleum reserves of Saudi Arabia.

states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, the Green River formation is an underground oil shale formation that contains as much as 1.8 trillion barrels of shale oil. The United States, however, has the most shale resources.

A sedimentary rock, oil shale is found all over the world, including China, Israel, and Russia. With more pressure and over more geological time, kerogen would heat to its “oil window” or “ gas window” (the temperature at which it would release crude oil or natural gas). Oil shale can be thought of as a precursor to oil and natural gas. However, all types of kerogen consist mainly of hydrocarbons smaller amounts of sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen and a variety of minerals. Kerogen that formed from land plants (called humic kerogen) usually has a higher oxygen content than kerogen formed from plankton (called planktonic kerogen). There is not a consistent chemical composition of kerogen, because it has a variety of origins. They encountered intense pressure and heat, decomposed, and slowly transformed into the waxy substance known as kerogen. When these organisms died and drifted to the seabed, they were buried under new layers of plants and sediment. Fossil fuels developed from the remains of algae, spores, plants, pollen, and a variety of other organisms that lived millions of years ago in ancient lakes, seas, and wetlands. Like tradit ional petroleum, natural gas, and coal, oil shale and kerogen are fossil fuels. The hydrocarbons in oil shale can be used as an alternative to petroleum or natural gas.

Petroleum and natural gas are probably the most familiar hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons are substances made entirely of hydrogen and carbon. Kerogen is a part of rock that breaks down and releases hydrocarbons when heated. Oil shale is a type of sedimentary rock that is rich in kerogen.