China has abundant oil shale resources and in-situ conversion is necessary for the large-scale, efficient and environmentally friendly development of this source rock. Despite the numerous researches carried out on in-situ transformation, reservoir reconstruction and heating technology, there is a lack of selection and evaluation criteria for high-quality mining areas. Therefore, it is urgent to perform geological evaluation and selection of favourable target areas for the in-situ conversion of oil shale-bearing areas in continental basins in China. In this paper, based on a wealth of research and previous studies, the geological characteristics of oil shale deposits in China’s continental basins are studied. The in-situ conversion of oil shale mainly depends on the quality of rock, deposit characteristics, resource amount and hydrological conditions for site selection. On this basis, geological parameters, such as oil yield, organic matter type and maturity, ore body thickness, stratum dip angle, tectonics, lithology of the oil shale body roof and floor, oil shale resources and water content, are further considered. In addition, in conformity with the factor product method, the comprehensive geological parameters of each mining area are obtained and sorted according to a weighting coefficient. The preliminary results reveal that the Fushun and Bagemaode mining areas are two first-class favourable target areas. Gaozhou, Maoming, Fuyu-Changchun Ridge and eight other mining areas are second-class, less favourable target areas, while 16 future alternative areas include Tongchuan, Qidaoquanzi, Tanshanling, etc.
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