Short answers, pulled from the story.
An Arab physician named Masawaih al-Mardini described a method to extract oil from bituminous shale in the early 10th century. This account marks one of the earliest recorded attempts to turn rock into liquid fuel.
Modern industrial mining of oil shale began in 1837 in Autun, France. Scotland later became the epicenter of early production, peaking around 1913 with 120 oil shale works.
On the 2nd of May 1982, Exxon canceled its US$5 billion Colony Shale Oil Project near Parachute, Colorado. The decision resulted in the layoff of more than 2,000 workers and left a trail of home foreclosures and small business bankruptcies.
Estonia extracts 80% of oil shale used globally and serves as the main fuel for power generation. In 2016, 90.3% of the country's electrical generation was produced from oil shale with an installed capacity of 2,967 megawatts.
A 1984 study estimated the energy return on investment of various known oil shale deposits as varying between 0.7 and 13.3. Known development projects assert a range between 3 and 10.
Corresponding hydrocarbons were detected in a probe fly-by through the tail of Halley's Comet in 1986. This finding suggests that the building blocks of oil shale may be ubiquitous in the solar system.