What is the difference between Brent, shale and crude?

Thanks for the A2A. There's three different things here: Shale is just a type of rock. It's mostly made up from fine grains of mud, clay, and other minerals. Crude is a generic name for crude, unrefined oil as it comes from the ground. read more

Shale oil is pumped out of deposits which lie between layers of shale. The technology to do this involves pumping in other liquids or steam to force out the oil. Another technology that has improved production of shale oil is horizontal drilling. read more

The main difference between crude oil and shale oil is the process of generation of each type of oil. First, let us understand more about shale rock. Shale rock is a fine-grained, soft sedimentary rock which is made up of clay particles and other minerals such as calcite and quartz. read more

The key difference between shale oil and crude oil is in its composition; Shale oil contains relatively large quantities of sulfur, nitrogen, and oxygen than that of crude oil. But, the cost of production of shale oil is comparatively low. read more