News re: inorganic oil

[The Minx]

Not confirmed as yet, only the possibility. Interesting nonetheless.

Link

[quote]The stock explanation for the origins of crude oil and natural gas is that these hydrocarbons are the end product of millions of years of geochemical processing of long-dead sea creatures. But, these materials might also be found much deeper in the Earth’s mantle and may have a non-organic origin hinting at a controversial mechanism for a partial replenishment of reserves.

The oil we convert into petrol and feedstocks for the chemical industry, and the natural gas (methane, CH4) that heats our homes started out as living organisms that died, were compressed, and heated under heavy layers of sediment in the Earth’s crust over the course of millions of years. But, the idea that some of these hydrocarbons may have been formed from material that was never alive has been a point of contention for many years.

Anton Kolesnikov and Alexander Goncharov of the Geophysical Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, in Washington DC and Vladimir Kutcherov of the Lomonosov Moscow State Academy of Fine Chemical Technology, Russia and the Royal Institute of Technology, in Stockholm, Sweden, have studied the possibility of an abiotic origin for hydrocarbons.

“The notion that hydrocarbons generated in the mantle migrate into the Earth’s crust and contribute to oil-and-gas reservoirs was promoted in Russia and Ukraine many years ago,â€

[Mayabird]

This is something that keeps popping up every couple years. It's supported by about a half-dozen Russian scientists who don't even claim that all natural petroleum comes from these means, just a tiny amount maybe if their theory is sound and everything goes just right, and then by like a bajillion peak oil deniers who say, "SEE? OIL IS INFINITE! ESCALADE TIME!" because then they can stay in denial and pretend that everything is fine.

Evolution deniers should probably jump in too because then oil wouldn't come from million-year-dead organisms that can't exist because the world isn't old enough, but they're neither intelligent enough to connect the dots nor well-read enough to come across these articles at all. Well, there might be one, same as there's one person who believes that bacon grease is good for you and vegetables bad, but one person doesn't count.

[The Minx]

Hmm, OK.

But how about the reports of complex hydrocarbons being found at 30k feet then (both in the Gulf of Mexico and by the Russians in Russia and off the shore of Vietnam)? Supposedly this is deeper than fossil fuels should be found.

Note, I'm not making any claims about future oil availability, just asking.