Oil Shales of the World. Their Origin, Occurrence, and Exploitation

Oil shales and shale oil has known and used by historic man. These materials, under one name or another are found all over the world, and new deposits are reported frequently. Worldwide resources are very large and a rough estimate indicates that oil shales occurring in at least 50 countries may contain in excess of 2,000 trillion (10 x 10(12)) barrels of oil in place. The first modern attempts at commercial production began in the 1780-1860 period. The largest operations were in Scotland, Australia, France, Russia, and China. The Scottish industry operated for over 100 years. Currently Russia and China are the principal producers of oil shale and shale oil but utilization is either in the planning or construction stage in other countries. The efforts and equipment used to utilize this resource since its earliest recognition are discussed. The location, origin, locality and extent of resource is presented for most of the worlds known deposits. Plans for future use are noted where available.