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In an environment of insufficient oxygen, Methane is the lowest energy state of carbon and hydrogen. A planet/moon forming with insufficient oxygen and sufficient hydrogen & carbon is going to form Methane. If large amounts of carbon exist rather than the 1/4 ratio to hydrogen, then some is going to form ethane.

Titan does not show to have the longer string hydrocarbons we find in crude oil like Paraffins, Naphthenes, Aromatics and Asphaltics. Calling methane and small amounts of ethane hydrocarbons just like our crude oil is being deceptive.

Paraffins, Napthenes and Asphaltics don't show up in spectral analysis as easily as do the lighter hydrocarbons.

And face it, that's all we're going on until we land something.

Methane is good enough for us. It would save a lot of lives, so that people aren't burning trees to cook their food.

I'm not being deceptive. I'm pointing out facts.

And what perzactly does happen to those light hydrocarbons on a planet-sized ball that has proven internal thermal reserves? What happens when you mash the light hydrocarbons under heat and pressure? What do they become?

/johnny

When someone uses Noah's Flood to justify a position.... I'm going to ask questions. I suspect that natural gas and oil here on this planet came from other than biological sources, even if they may be contaminated by them.

We've got plenty of time to debate it without being ugly.

/johnny

I’m actually enjoying the conversation. Its a subject of some interest to me. I work in the oil world.

I’m willing to grant that crude oil is a thing unto itself, but I’m not sure that this proves or disproves anything with respect to the basic conversation. Maybe we’re talking past each other.

I look out into space and see balls of hydrogen, balls of methane and ethane (which is, in essence, balls of frozen natural gas), and balls of frozen helium, and so forth. Its hard for me to look at that and not conclude that the universe is made from hydrogen, methanes, carbon, and so forth, that the chemicals you find on earth you are going to find again and again scattered everywhere you look in outerspace.

Then you come to earth and find that biological processes give off methane (or at least I do periodically throughout the day).

I suppose thackneys’ point is that, while elemental hydrocarbons pre-exist the earth, it took biological processes or some biological input for it to take the form we see in crude oil. Am I getting that right?