What is the difference between shale oil and oil shale?

[Khaled H. Al-Azani]

Hi members,
What is the difference between shale oil and oil shale?
Khaled Al-Azani
K.H.A

[vinomarky]

The simplistic answer I guess is that one is oil, and the other is shale

Not having worked in shale before, I can only surmise that the slightly less trivial answer is that shale oil is generally oil that is produced from shales, while oil shales *may* have the potential to produce directly, but they could also be considered as the kitchen in a conventional system - the oil expelled from which is not normally referred to as 'shale oil' once it has found its way into a conventional trap.

[doombuggy]

My understanding is that the difference is in the recovery processes required. For "shale oil" the oil is mined in situ using wells like normal oil production. Methods such as hydraulic fracturing is applied to increase conductivity.
For "oil shale", the process of extraction is similar to heavy oil mining. The shale sands are mined and the oil extracted from the shale thermally.

[doombuggy]

My understanding is that the difference is in the recovery processes required. For "shale oil" the oil is mined in situ using wells like normal oil production. Methods such as hydraulic fracturing is applied to increase conductivity.
For "oil shale", the process of extraction is similar to heavy oil mining. The shale sands are mined and the oil extracted from the shale thermally.