[Obadiah]

I have been saying this for years. However, everytime I raise this theory, many here pooh-pooh it. I maintain that there is a very good chance that this in fact happens. Do scientists even know much about the earth's core? No, not much.

[em2vn]

Violate the narrow FR orthodoxy and.... Well you know.

[rottndog]

petroleum produced by geology, not by biology.

Makes sense to me, considering how much petroleum we are using, the rate at which our use is increasing, and the fact that oil reserves are increasing at a greater rate. It does not seem logical to me that a biological process that takes so long could produce so much. How much biological material actually reaches the depths of the Earth required to produce petroleum? It doesn't make sense to me.

Wouldn't it be nice to retire the term "fossil fuel"? Then we could say to the environazis "Look, we aren't using fossil fuels anymore! We're only consuming the milk of Geia!"

[trashcanbred]

However, everytime I raise this theory, many here pooh-pooh it.

Just because you say something doesn't mean it is true. This article only suggests that methane could possibly be produced... but to say that all hydrocarbons are created via another process instead of organic means seems to be a stretch of the imagination. Just ask any paleontologist who works for an oil company.

[Robert A Cook PE]

I agree.

See, the difference is in source of hydrocarbons between coal and deep-earth oil products.

Coal clearly (from fossils and plant residue seen in the coal), is from compressed earlier life. Shallow beds, flat beds, sedimentary rock directly it, limited areas: not under the seas or long-lived natural rock.

But oil follows NONE of these "rules" - and actually violates most of them.

It is "trapped" ABOVE salt domes UNDER dense impermeable unbroken rock - as if rising from below. It is found very, very deep: at 3-5 miles depth, which is not uncommon for new wells, oils are found in rock "new" at the time of the Grand Canyon: when little "plant life" was around as a source of the "decaying matter" theory. Oil accumulates and disperses through the rock - and travels long distances unexplainable if its source is flat beds of dead plant/animal matter.

The sheer time involved in getting 5 miles of sediment piled in smooth sheets above plant matter (without that plant matter turning into coal or washing away, seems to preclude plant mass (never dinosaurs, by the way, oil is much too old for that!) as a primary source.

Comets? Possible carbon. Hydrogen ? Not sure? From water in the comets? But somebody has to show me HOW oil is formed from plant matter, and buried that deep under that much ocean floor and deep rock in that short a time, for me to buy it.

Direct from pressurized rock? Maybe. Not buying that yet either.