The invention relates to a continuous process for producing synthetic crude oil from oil bearing material, e.g., oil shale or tar sand, through continuous process for producing synthetic crude oil from bituminous tar sand or shale. The process includes treating the tar sand or shale to produce a fluidizable feed, feeding the fluidizable feed to a fluidized bed reactor, and fluidizing and reacting the fluidizable feed in the fluidized bed reactor with substantially only hydrogen.