Many People Have No Idea Where Oil Actually Comes From. It's Not Dinosaurs

IFL Science ^ | July 26, 2025 | James Felton

[SkyDancer]

But Sinclair oil people said so and they had a dinosaur on their gas station logo. (/sarc)

[chud]

The Sinclair dinosaur is my favorite gas station logo.

[Rio]

Here is where I learned it as a young-un:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMrBsUmihDE

[ClearCase_guy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenic_petroleum_origin

The scientists don’t like to talk about other scientific theories. It’s got to be algae and ferns. It’s got to be plant decompositon. Couldn’t be anything else. Don’t question the science.

[C210N]

Big believer of abiotic oil. The term fossil fuel was to give us the impression of scarcity.

[Red Badger]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenic_petroleum_origin

[Red Badger]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenic_petroleum_origin

[Vaduz]

Plankton BINGO

Plan B place sea water in old oil wells and?.

[al baby]

Id hate to think where Baby Oil comes from

[Red Badger]

You have FRACKING!.......................

[Paco]

I dunno but I have as much trouble believing oil comes from plankton & algae as dinosaurs...

[Red Badger]

The science is settled.
We have consensus.
Now be a good slave and go buy an EV.....................

[bigbob]

Natures biofuel. Greenish-black gold.

[Red Badger]

I remember that!...................

[chiller]

Oil finds are not always at the bottom of the sea. Perhaps they once were as continents shifted, but the interior oven below seems the mostly likely creator.

That oven keeps churning and could be another million years before it’s all gone. We see lava spill out occasionally.

Energy sources are coming soon which will require much less dependance on oil.

[xp38]

Who knows but the ultimate source is God. God also provides other forms of energy like the sun, wind, water and nuclear.

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

Hydrocarbons are part of the universe. There is a moon of Saturn called Titan. It has oceans of hydrocarbons. It rains hydrocarbons. In some ways it is a celestial gas station for some future descendants of Elon Musk to fill up and travel further.

I doubt the Titan hydrocarbons come from dinosaurs, ancient savannas, algae or plankton.

Also, Musk chose methane as one of the fuels because there is a lot of methane on Mars. One of the current, large rovers on Mars has a proof-of-concept experiment called MOXIE. MOXIE proved we can make oxygen out of the Martian atmosphere.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Chickens come from the store. What’s there to know?

[fso301]