Oil shale is a sedimentary rock rich in organic matter known as kerogen which when heated, breaks down and releases hydrocarbon. Oil shale can be thought of as a precursor to oil and natural gas; with more pressure and over longer geological time, the kerogen would heat to its oil and gas window to release crude oil or natural gas.
Oil shale is extracted using conventional mining techniques. It is crushed and burned as fuel to produce electricity or heated up using retorting system to produce synthetic shale oil.
The liquid shale oil is a synthetic crude oil which can be treated and refined into other petroleum products such as diesel, petrol and jet fuels.