Know all about Oil shale and Essexite properties here. All properties of rocks are important as they define the type of rock and its application. Oil shale belongs to Sedimentary Rocks while Essexite belongs to Igneous Rocks.Texture of Oil shale is Splintery whereas that of Essexite is Granular. Oil shale appears Muddy and Essexite appears Banded. The luster of Oil shale is dull while that of Essexite is not available. Oil shale is available in black, brown, buff, green, grey, red, yellow colors whereas Essexite is available in dark grey to black colors. The commercial uses of Oil shale are an oil and gas reservoir and that of Essexite are cemetery markers, commemorative tablets, jewelry, sea defence, tombstones.