This document summarizes information about oil shale basins and resources in Mongolia. It discusses the 13 main oil shale bearing basins in the country, totaling an area of 312,000 square kilometers. Key points include that oil shale is hosted in Lower Cretaceous rocks and was deposited in rift valleys. Estimated oil shale resources are 787.5 billion tons, with identified shale oil resources at 22.7 billion tons across several major basins. Further exploration is needed as surveys have only covered 7.8% of the total area of oil shale basins in Mongolia.

1. Jargal, L.
Erdenetsogt, B.
School of Geography and Geology
National University of Mongolia

2.  Introduction
 Survey history
 Oil shale basins
 13 basins in Mongolia
 Stratigraphy
 Generalized information (Lower Creataceous)
 Oil shale quality
 Brief information of some oil shale deposits
 Resources
 Oil shale and shale oil resources
 Conclusions

3.  The first information on oil shale was written by Tenner in
1931 at Uvurjargalant
 Geological survey started since 1940s
 1980s lab analysis in Estonia
 1990s lab analysis in Japan
 In 1994, classification of oil shale bearing basins (Bat-
Erdene and Jargal)
 Some domestic and foreign companies
 MAK and Genie Oil Shale Mongolia LLC

4.  13 Oil Shale Bearing
Basins
 Lake Valey
 Gobi-Altai
 Ongi River
 Tugrug
 South Gobi
 Middle Gobi
 Ugi Lake
 Uvurjargalant
 Nyalga
 Choibalsan
 Tamsag
 East Gobi
 Sukhbaatar
 Total area is 312,000
sq km.

5.  Andkhudag Formation (150-
700 m)
 Intercalated mudstone and
sandstone, shale with marl
lenses and shale with
sandstone layers
 Khulsiin gol Formation (110-
600 m)
 Coaly shale, coal
seam, siltstone and sandstone
 (Shuvalov, 1975)

6.  ZuunbayanGroup is composed of 3
formations(Bat-Erdene, 1992)
 Maximum thickness is 1800 m
 Oil shale-bearingFormation (<780m)
 The lower part - sandy conglomerates
 The upper part - mudstone with subordinate
sandstone, limestone, siderite
nodules, dolomite, marl and siltstone with
thick oil shale seams.
 Coal-bearingFormation(<770m)
 Conglomerate, gross bedded
sandstone, siltstone, coaly shale with coal
measures.
 SandyConglomerate Formation(<250 m)
 Sandstone with conglomerate, fine grained
sediments and tuffaceous sediments

7. Middle Gobi Basin
Eedemt (Khuut) deposit
Bayanjargalan soum, Dundgobi aimag
Oil shale bearing unit is 160 m thick
Oil shale thickness is >10 m
Shale oil yield is <20% (average is ~5%)
Sulfur content is ~0.6%

8. Nyalga basin
Khumuult deposit
Bayanjargalan, Tuv aimag
Oil shale bearing unit can be divided into 3 members
Marl- siltstone member
Oil shale member (8 shale seams, cum. thickness is 127 m
Mudstone member
Shale oil yield is <15% (average is 4.4%)
Sulfur contents <1.85%

9. Choibalsan basin
Sumiin Nuur (Melkhii Bulag)
Gurvanzagal, Dornod aimag
Oil shale seams (thickness is <30 m)
Average shale oil yield is 6.6%

10.  Oil shale resources was estimated to be 787.5 billion tones
 Resources was estimated in only 19.2% of total area of oil shale
bearing basins because of lack of survey
 Khugshin Gol deposit in Ugi Lake basin
▪ >28 oil shale seams
▪ Thickness is < 11.5 m
 Bayanjargalan deposit in Nyalga basin
▪ Thicknessof oil shale seam is <70.4 m
 Tugrug deposit in Nyalga
▪ >10 seams
▪ Thicknessis <14.0 m
 Bayan-Erkhet in Nyalga
▪ Thickness of oil shale is <127.9 m
 Shavart-Ovoo deposit in Middle Gobi basin
▪ >16 seams
▪ Up to 100.0 m thick

11. 12.5
57.5
143
107.6
102
312
15
0.6
35.4
0.5
0.4
1
4.6
16
0.93
0.03
1.1
0.06
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
LakeValley
Gobi-Altai
OngiRiver
Tugrug
MiddleGobi
Nyalga
UgiLake
Choibalsan
Uvurjargalant
Sudagbulag
Ovoosum
Tsagaannuur
Billion tonnes
Oil shale resources Shale Oil resources

12.  Shale oil resources
 22.7 billion tones
 7.8% of total area of
oil shale bearing
basins
 Lack of survey

13.  Shale oil resources
Basins/subbasins Shale oil
yeld, %
Resources (billion
tones)
Oil shale Shale oil
Middle Gobi basin
-North subbasin
-Undurshil subbasin
6.8
3.0
39.9
68.1
2.7
1.9
Nyalga basin
-Ulaankhooloin Gobi subbasin
-Nyalga subbasin
16.2
5.3
3.9
289.3
0.6
15.3
Ugi Lake basin 6.2 15.0 0.9
Uvurjargalant basin 3.1 35.0 1.1
Tsagaannuur basin 6.2 1.0 0.06
Choibalsan basin
-Sumiin nuur subbasin 5.0 0.6 0.03
Total 22.7

14.  Oil shale is hosted in LowerCretaceous rocks, which
was accumulated in rift valley
 Shale oil yield of some deposits are quite high, for
example
 SumanUndur deposit inTamsag basin – 22%
 Eedemt deposit in Middle Gobi basin – 19.6%
 Uvdug Khooloin Gashuun in Middle Gobi basin – 11.7%
 Shale oil resources was estimated to be 22.7 billion
tones (only 7.8% of total known area)
 Level of survey is very low. Further survey is required.

15. Thanks for your attention