Oil shales are defined as fine grained sedimentary rocks containing abundant mainly
sapropelic organic matter which produce oil on distillation.
Shale oil is the feedstock produced from upgrading (cracking, coking, and hydro-treatment) of oil shale that is a naturally occurring mixtures of organic matter, water, sand and clay.
There is no strict geological or chemical definition of an oil shale that is widely accepted, except that these rocks are immature with respect to hydrocarbon generation. According to Tissot and Welte (1984) any shallow rock yielding oil in commercial amounts upon pyrolysis is considered to be an oil shale. However, there are some workers that consider an oil shale as an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock, containing up to 50 wt.% organic matter from which liquid hydrocarbons can be extracted via retorting. Therefore, oil shales are described as unconventional oil systems. Before mining, the rock contains no producible oil and usually little extractable bitumen. Once mined, the oil shale can either be used directly as fuel for a power plant, or processed to produce oil and other compounds (chemicals and materials).
Shale oil refers to in situ hydrocarbon oil present in organic-rich, fine-grained, sedimentary rocks (shale and associated lithofacies). Oil produced from organic-rich shales (oil shales).
References:
Suárez-Ruiz, I.; Flores, D.; Mendonça Filho, J.G.; Hackley, P.C. 2012. Review and update of the applications of organic petrology: Part 1, Geological Applications. International Journal of Coal Geology, v. 99, p. 54-112.
Oil shale is an inorganic rock (petroleum precursor) that contains a solid organic compound known as kerogen. Oil shale is a misnomer because kerogen isn't crude oil, and the rock holding the kerogen often isn't even shale. But shale oil, or “tight oil” is a conventional crude oil created naturally and trapped in shale deposits -- requiring modern drilling and recovery technologies to produce.
Oil shale (kerogen) deposits are entirely different from shale oil deposits. They have not sustained the time and temperature required to turn the kerogen to crude oil. Only applied heat will convert oil shale to crude oil. What mother earth failed to accomplish with time, can be obtained by the application of man-made heat.
Further information on oil shale can be found through the National Oil Shale Association at www.oilshaleassociation.com
I agree with the paper of Isabel Suarez_Ruiz,et al., I think that Isabel is specialist in this theme.
Crude oil produced from fracking operation is sometimes wrongly termed as shale oil because natural gas produced from fracking operation is known as shale gas. Actually crude oil produced from fracking operation is called tight oil or light tight oil (LTO). Shale oil is oil derived from oil shales as described by other researchers above.
I think Oil shale is an organic rich fine-grained sedimentary rock that reserves the kerogen from which hydrocarbons, called shale oil can be produced. This is basic difference, its like a difference between the host and the guest.
Oil shale is a sedimentary rock of porous geologic formations from which a kind of light oil, shale oil or tight oil, may be extracted. Shale oil may be processed similarly to crude oil or petroleum, and in fact it is known in France as Pétrole de schist, although it is more usual in Canadian French to call it Huile de schiste, perhaps due to English influence. According to some authorities, the term oil shale is a very general one comprising all types of sedimentary rocks containing more than 3.5% organic matter.
Oil Shale is a sedimentary rock containing organic matter within its porous space, which when heated in absence of air leads to generation or production of a crude like oil called Shale Oil. the processes of heating in absence of air or inert condition is called Pyrolysis. The Oil Shales can be pyrolyses on surface (i.e. bringing the rock to the retort or reactor) or In-Situ, i.e. Heating the rock in the sub surface or in the site of origin by using electodes to transfer the heat to the rock pores.
Oil shale is a fine grained sedimentary rock that yields oil on destructive distillation. In oil shales, oil is contained within the complex structure of kerogen. It is dominated by more inorganic matter than the organic unlike to conventional oil field.
Oil shale: raw oil shale in the solid form before extraction
Shale oil: the oil in the solid shale after extraction
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