"TITAN"
Posted on 12/05/2006 1:02:40 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Are hydrocarbons "renewable"- and if so- what does such a conclusion mean for the future of the world's oil and natural gas supplies?
The question is critical due to the enormous amount of coverage the issue of "Peak Oil" is receiving from the mainstream press. If the supply of hydrocarbons is renewable- then the contrary to the conventional wisdom being touted throughout the mainstream press today- the world is NOT running out of oil.
Unbeknownst to Westerners, there have actually been for quite some time now two competing theories concerning the origins of petroleum. One theory claims that oil is an organic 'fossil fuel' deposited in finite quantities near the planet's surface. The other theory claims that oil is continuously generated by natural processes in the Earth's magma.
One of the world's leading advocates for the theory that hydrocarbons are renewable is Dr. Thomas Gold who contends that oil is not a limited resource, and that oil, natural gas and coal, are not so-called “fossil fuels.”
In his book, The Deep Hot Biosphere: The Myth of Fossil Fuels, he explains that dinosaurs and plants and the fossils from those living beings are not the origin of oil and natural gas, but rather generated from a chemical substance in the crust of the Earth.
Dr. Gold: "Astronomers have been able to find that hydrocarbons, as oil, gas and coal are called, occur on many other planetary bodies. They are a common substance in the universe. You find it in the kind of gas clouds that made systems like our solar system. You find large quantities of hydrocarbons in them.
(Excerpt) Read more at 321energy.com ...
It seems like it’s all been a big charade.
****
“In his book, The Deep Hot Biosphere: The Myth of Fossil Fuels, he explains that dinosaurs and plants and the fossils from those living beings are not the origin of oil and natural gas, but rather generated from a chemical substance in the crust of the Earth. “
----
It’s strange that any of us ever believed that (dinosaur/oil) fantasy in the first place. I guess they fed it to us early enough in school when most of us never asked too many questions. How would have the “remains” of those dinosaurs gotten so deeply into the earth where the oil is now?
;-)
yup
http://www.the7thfire.com/Politics%20and%20History/peak_oil/is_peak_oil_a_myth.htm
Finally, a word of caution on the essential fragility of a study on the very long-term future for the world's energy supply which accepts without question the validity of the original 18th century hypothesis that all oil and gas resources have been generated from biological matter in the chemical and thermodynamic environments of the earth's crust. There is an alternative theory - already 50 years old - which suggests an inorganic origin for additional oil and gas. This alternative view is widely accepted in the countries of the former Soviet Union where, it is claimed, "large volumes of hydrocarbons are being produced from the pre-Cambrian crystalline basement".
Recent applications of the inorganic theory have, however, also led to claims for the possibility of the Middle East fields being able to produce oil "forever" and to the concept of repleting oil and gas fields in the gulf of Mexico. More generally, it is argued, "all giant fields are most logically explained by inorganic theory because simple calculations of potential hydrocarbon contents in sediments shows that organic materials are too few to supply the volumes of petroleum involved."
Considering that we are consuming millions of barrels of oil per day and have been for decades, there must have been a heck of a lot of Dinosaurs and plants that were smashed deep in the earths crust. Additionally, modern plate tectonics states that crustal mass is actually being recycled over millions of years.
In 2003, Discover magazine published this article. It says that we can manufacture as much oil as we could ever need out of garbage, sewage, and agricultural waste. It said the cost was $15 per barrel:
http://www.mindfully.org/Energy/2003/Anything-Into-Oil1may03.htm
In 2006, Discover magazine published this update. It turns out the real cost is $80 per barrel:
http://www.discover.com/issues/apr-06/features/anything-oil/
This proves that oil is indeed a renewable resource, and we can never run out.
A little more:
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http://www.the7thfire.com/Politics%20and%20History/peak_oil/is_peak_oil_a_myth.htm
There have been numerous reports in recent times, of oil and gas fields not running out at the expected time, but instead showing a higher content of hydrocarbons after they had already produced more than the initially estimated amount. This has been seen in the Middle East, in the deep gas wells of Oklahoma, on the Gulf of Mexico coast, and in other places. It is this apparent refilling during production that has been responsible for the series of gross underestimate of reserves that have been published time and again, the most memorable being the one in the early seventies that firmly predicted the end of oil and gas globally by 1987, a prediction which produced an energy crisis and with that a huge shift in the wealth of nations. Refilling is an item of the greatest economic significance, and also a key to understanding what the sources of all this petroleum had been. It is also of practical engineering importance, since we may be able to exercise some control over the refilling process.
The debate about the origin of all the petroleum on Earth lies in the center of the subject. If we really knew that it is only biological materials, which, in their decay, could produce hydrocarbons, then the quantities that could ever be produced would be limited by the biological content of the sediments. But then the clear and strong association of petroleum with the inert gas helium would have no explanation; the finding of hydrocarbon gases, liquids and solids on most other planetary bodies in our solar system which have surface conditions quite unsuitable for surface life, could not be understood; the presence of hydrocarbons which we now find in abundance in basement rocks would also remained unexplained.
Cassini finds evidence of giant hydrocarbon lakes on moon Titan
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1671604/posts
Did the proponents allow for those crystalline rocks being thrust faulted over sediments below?
A few words of caution.
The reason many in the oil industry believe that there is indeed a biogenic origin of oil is that the model works, repeatedly.
The only Gulf of Mexico wells which seem to be regenerating are in heavily faulted terrain and may well be being recharged by an un-drilled reservoir below the one originally tapped in the field by petroleum migration along a fault (or several faults).
I know of no instance where anything was produced (save the money from the investors) in the US by following a mantle generation model. The only producing fields are those which have reservoirs charged by proven source rocks which contain fossil plankton and other invertebrates, (not just dinosaurs), the main fossil source for the oil.
I first read about this in 1991. The geologist who pioneered the theory was far more accurate in picking where oil deposits would be based upon his assumptions than fossil-fuel experts were.
Back then I thought for sure it would only be a matter of a few years before we started looking at the fuel situation differently. Unfortunately, we didn't then, we won't now. The idea of a dwindling resource is too vital to modern angst and the deep running anti-capitalism sentiment that has permeated our popular culture and academic institutions.
And how does one account for all that 'natural gas' which is on Titan?
L
I only wish to say that true science shows that Peak Oil is NOT true. And we were all rather innocent fools to believe it in the first place.
Peak oil is a decades old lie creating artificial scarcity and thusly higher prices. Big oil does a great job getting oil out of the earth for a relatively decent price, but it's all a big game and they control it.
An "artificial scarcity strategy" has been in place for decades and decades. It looks like "social planners" have nearly succeeded in de-industrializing the United States. They will blame our economic dissipation on shortages of energy supplies. How convenient.
Now that the world economy has become so centralized, there will be blame put on the West's over consumption of fossil fuels, and at the same time development and use of renewable clean technologies seems to continue to be impeded. This is all real good for the oil companies. Meanwhile, “alternative fuel technologies” which have existed for years are suppressed.
Oh well ................ no pun intended.
The USGS will not conduct their formal estimate until 2007-8, and we have been drilling wells in this for the past 6 years. Maybe someday we will 'run out', but we are not there yet.
As for Titan, methane origin is somewhat explained here. No critters are believed to be involved, but then, there are no producing oil wells on Titan, either. (Longer chain hydrocarbons are believed to not be present.)
I am not sure on that.
But I just found this site with the story of this good man from Cornell who wrote a book on the subject.
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http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/June04/Thomas_Gold_obit.hrs.html
(snip) — The debate still is raging on one of Gold's last, and most widely controversial, ideas: that oil and natural gas are formed not from decaying organic matter, as most scientists believe, but from geologic processes and continually well up to the surface from deep underground.
The presence of organic molecules in all petroleum deposits has long been taken as evidence for the biological origin of petroleum. Gold argued instead in his 1999 book, The Deep Hot Biosphere, that the organic molecules come from subterranean microbes that feed on petroleum deep in the Earth's crust. Gold's vision of a supply of oil and gas that is essentially inexhaustible drew intense criticism from petroleum geologists.
Holy cow. That's a lot of gasoline.
Maybe I should buy a Hummer while everyone else is selling them...
L
A recent result from deep ocean drilling shows rock-eating bacteria going WAY down under the floor, possibly being 2/3rds of all bio-mass on the earth. There then is your source of deep oil, not the mantle itself. Also, in the water gap analysis, geo-chemists have shown that the oceans, water thereof, could NOT have come from the mantle itself, the O of H2O is ripped off by Silicon, Magnesium, Aluminum, and you just get more ROCKS; the H2 released finds its way to the surface and thus space.....So, where did our oceans come from as early as 3.9 billion years ago? Ancient and well dated stromatolites(mushroom shaped beach formations)verify that. If a mars had directly hit the earth and splashed out the moon into orbit(4.4B years ago), you get a gamma ray burster of 10^31 J of instantaneous KE release: no delicate molecule like H2O survives an earth as hot as the sun(like the SL9 comet train that hit Jupiter in 1994, only much BIGGER). The only possible answer is that the moon was roche-captured(torn into a comma shape)and the surviving head went into elliptical orbit around terra. It then tore up and down thru the hydrate-rich planetisimals of the terran ring system, perturbing most of them to the equator as wet gravel(a 20 to 40 km deep layer)and the planetisimals that hit the HOT moon's surface were fried. This is why earth's continents and lunar regolith are isotope-identical in the refractory elements : common source : the aboriginal terran ring system...
I believe that the reason many in the oil industry PROCLAIM that there is a biogenic origin of oil is that it creates continual artificial scarcity and a degree of fear.
Let me just say, I don't want to suggest that we stay hooked on oil for ever because there may be so much of it, we do need to move on to other technologies for a number of reasons including concerning the environment. China, for instance, is supposed to be an inferno if you visit there.
So I don't say stick with oil at all, but the science is showing that there is no "Peak Oil". It's all theatre. (jmo)
;-)
I think a lot of the reason "peak oil" is getting more hype is that, (despite the infrastructure disruptions which were a large part of the price jump and the lag between increase in demand (globally) and production), there is sustained interest by the anti-"eeevil oil" crowd in finding other ways to power their limos.
The rest can walk, as far as they are concerned.
What hapened to Jane Fonda's used veggie oil fueled protest bus, did that ever make it anywhere?
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