Abiotic oil

[Bikewer]

Anyone familiar with the "abiotic" notion of oil production? As I understand it, this is the idea that crude petroleum is not an organic product, but is being constantly produced by chemical processes deep in the earth.
In essence, an endless supply.

This sounds like woo-woo wish fulfilment to me, but I admit I havn't read up on the phenomenon.

 

[patnray]

This has been discussed here before, but I do not have a link. The "Deep Earth Gas" hypothesis states that the current theory for the origin of petroleum deposits can not adequately explain them. Instead, they believe, methane, left over from the birth of the solar system, is seeping out of the inner earth. This gas builds up where covered with an impermeable layer. If a deposit of organic material is also trapped beneath this layer, the combination produces petroleum over time. The theory stated that if we drill deep enough, in the right place, we can tap into this enormous reservoir of methane. The proponents found a sponsor and went bust drilling (in the North Sea I believe).

A barely plauseable hypothesis with no evidence to support it. But an entertaining "What If" exercise.

 

[Bowser]

An endless supply to whom? It doesn't fulfill anything if it can't be drilled cost effectively.

 

[Virgil]

there is also the notion that organic oil came not from dead dino's and plants but as the earth cooled smaller atoms formed heavy elements like iron and some formed lighter elements like carbon.


Virgil

 

[Tricky]

Here's the earlier thread

For numerous reasons, the abiotic theory of oil generation is flawed. At best, it can account only for a very tiny percentage of the petroleum we use. Natural gas is another matter.