Oil mobility in liquid-rich shale is crucial for economic success of resource development. The characteristics of the host rock and the properties of oil fluids are two primary factors controlling fluid mobility. Organic geochemistry data allows examination of both resource potential and oil mobility. We propose data-driven empirical models in this paper to describe hydrocarbon resource potential with respect to oil mobility. The proposed methods were applied to a dataset collected from the Eocene-Oligocene Es3 and Es4 source rock units in four recent shale oil exploration wells in the Jiyang Super-Depression of the Bohai Bay Basin. The dataset, results from standard programmed pyrolysis of whole rock samples as well as solvent extracted replicates of 139 core samples, was studied to examine the source rock characteristics and shale oil resource potential. Bulk geochemical characteristics and thermal decomposition trends allow for sub-division of the samples into two groups; a) samples with high initial hydrogen index (>800 mg HC/g TOC) and average present day TOC of 4.07% from LY1 and NY1 wells in a distal facies; and b) samples with slightly lower initial hydrogen index (about 700 mg HC/g TOC) and average TOC of 3.11% from FY1 and L69 wells in a transitional facies. Three different categories of oil resource with respect to oil mobility can be defined: adsorbed, restricted and movable based on organic geochemical characteristics and their variations in the stratigraphic intervals represented by the samples in the four wells. We show that expulsion efficiency is a good indicator of hydrocarbon retention in source rock reservoir and that the two wells in the distal facies have higher total resource potentials with abundant movable oil resource than the two wells in the transitional facies. The total oil potential is separated into three types of oil resource to show oil mobility, thus providing more information for business decision. •Hydrocarbon mobility and retention capacity are crucial in evaluating shale oil resource•Methods are proposed to quantify hydrocarbon retention and mobility in shale resource evaluation•High hydrocarbon retention and better oil mobility associated with distal facies in deep water lacustrine setting