[wolf78]

Oil Without Dinosaurs ?

You do know that the "oil is dead dinosaurs" myth is a strawman? Biomass on land usually turns to coal (gradually from peat to hard coal), whereas the scientific theory says that oil comes from plankton / algae (which are chemically astonishingly similar to petroleum).

Oil: The new renewable energy source.

Yeah, except that methane (CH4) isn't oil (which consists of much longer hydrocarbon chains).

It never did make sense to me, a non-oilperson and certainly not a chemist or biologist, that all oil came from multi-million-year-old organic matters ‘sandwiched’ between rock.

How could that happen? The rock would have to form, and that would takes thousands of years, and the organic matter didn’t rot away and disappear in those thousands of years?

There's surprisingly little rot at the pressures and oxygen levels you find miles below the sea surface. And yes, I'm aware that decompoisition happens there, too, just want to point out that your frame of reference is completely wrong.

Where and when did this come from...

Location of oil fields relative to prehistoric lakes and oceans.

... and how is it supported?

Chemical composition. E.g. similarity of molecules found in algae and in petroleum like porphyrin from petroleum vs. chlorophyll.

He was open to the possibility, but had not seen enough evidence to support the theory.

That's exactly the point. Abiotic hydrocarbons are certainly possible, especially simple ones like methane. But when it comes to the majority of more complex hydrocarbons like petroleum, it's just inferior as a theory (explains less, more holes...). So it boils down to a simple point: If you look at that facts, you keep your mind open without getting your hopes up. But if you're looking for something to pin your hopes to, to believe in, well then, at least it's better than sharia law.

[wideminded]

It never did make sense to me, a non-oilperson and certainly not a chemist or biologist, that all oil came from multi-million-year-old organic matters ‘sandwiched’ between rock.

How could that happen? The rock would have to form, and that would takes thousands of years, and the organic matter didn’t rot away and disappear in those thousands of years?

The organic matter that forms oil is not "sandwiched between rock". Certain rocks that form contain ancient organic matter. These are called "source rocks". Yes the matter has rotted, but this just means that it converts into other sorts of molecules that are still present in the rock. It doesn't "disappear". Underground heat causes some of this matter to convert into oil. Often the oil does travel out of the "source rock" and accumulates in so-called "reservoir rocks".

"Oil shale" is an example of source rock where the conversion to oil has not completed. It has to be heated to produce oil.

I figure that one has to give people with training and decades of experience in petroleum geology and exploration some credit when they say that the current theories of oil formation make sense and account for most oil that has been found.