The Songliao Basin is a large Mesozoic oil shale-bearing basin in northeastern China, the resources of which are most abundant, while the rock's discovered resources are mainly concentrated in the southern part of the basin. The oil shale of the Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation (K(2)qn(1)) in the southern Songliao Basin was evaluated based on proximate and geochemical analyses. The K(2)qn(1) oil shale is characterized by a shallow burial depth, medium-to-high oil yield, medium calorific value, high ash yield and low sulfur content. The maximum oil yield is 16.37% (avg. 5.54%), the calorific value is up to 10,174 J/g (avg. 3,264 J/g), and the average ash and sulfur contents are 82.03 and 1.49%, respectively. In addition to rich organic matter, the K(2)qn(1) oil shale contains clay minerals, quartz and feldspars with the respective average contents of 55.0, 23.3 and 12.4%. The contents of chemical compounds SiO2 and Al2O3 are high, being on average 51.58 and 15.02%, respectively. The oil shale is enriched in trace elements Mo, U and Pb, whereas rare earth elements (REEs) are represented by La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Gd and Tb. In view of the above diverse characteristics of oil shale and in consideration of environmental factors, an economical and efficient scheme of comprehensive utilization of K(2)qn(1) oil shale has been proposed. Oil shale can be directly used to refine shale oil by pyrolysis or combusted for power generation, while the remaining ash can be used for producing synthetic marble, building materials, alumina and silica and extracting metal elements.