The extraction of hydrocarbon fuel products such as kerogen oil and gas
from a body of fixed fossil fuels such as oil shale is accomplished by
applying a combination of electrical energy and critical fluids with
reactants and/or catalysts down a borehole to initiate a reaction of
reactants in the critical fluids with kerogen in the oil shale thereby
raising the temperatures to cause kerogen oil and gas products to be
extracted as a vapor, liquid or dissolved in the critical fluids. The
hydrocarbon fuel products of kerogen oil or shale oil and hydrocarbon gas
are removed to the ground surface by a product return line. An RF
generator provides electromagnetic energy, and the critical fluids
include a combination of carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2), with reactants of
nitrous oxide (N.sub.2O) or oxygen (O.sub.2).