Recognizing the need to gather and make available to the private sector the results of past and current research, the Department of Energy (DOE) is developing an Oil Shale Data System within the data system at the Morgantown Energy Technology Center (METC). The oil shale system is a computer-based data storage and retrieval system that serves as a repository for relevant oil shale information. The Oil Shale Data System is composed of several independent data bases. These include the Major Plants Data Base (MPDB), the Test Data Data Base (TDDB), the Resource Extraction Data Base (REDB), and the Math Modeling Data Base (MMDB). The structure of the Resource Extraction Data Base is shown. To determine the types of data to be collected and entered into the Oil Shale Data System, the needs of potential users have been identified.