The paper highlights the detailed characterization of Indian origin oil shale using various analytical techniques viz., Elemental analysis, Induced Coupled Argon Plasma (ICAP), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Gas Chromatography (GC), Infrared spectroscopy (IR), Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS). The study also focused on the molecular characterization of two shale oil samples obtained by retorting method from oil shales. A method based on NMR spectroscopy has been developed for the estimation of total aromatics, types of aromatic substituent's and average alkyl chain length of saturates in shale oil samples. Detailed hydrocarbon type analysis in terms of 22 classes has been carried out by HRMS. The results of aromatics obtained by the H-1 NMR method, correlated with HRMS data. The detailed analyses of Indian origin oil shale provide in depth structural information regarding the metals, minerals and hydrocarbons. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.