Abiotic oil?

Just been reading this thread on another site....

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread593543/pg1

Now you know, even as a kid, I thought the whole idea of oil being composed of decomposed organic matter under the ground sounded rather bogus. I mean, how did that "organic matter" get under the ground in the first place? Especially when you consider the quantity needed to produce the volume of oil coming from the ground and the depths these wells are pulling it from.

So has this all just been a colossal lie from the beginning to make oil seem like a non-renewable resource just to allow the oil companies to make HUGE profits from their claims that the supply was running low to justify the rising prices? Suppose that oil is actually just as plentiful as sand and is actually constantly being renewed by geologic activity?

Yeah, it boggles the mind to think that if this actually is a lie that it could be kept so well for so long. But then again, do some checking around to see how many of our representatives have their financial portfolios deeply padded with oil company stocks. There could be a LOT of pressure to keep the lid on the truth............

Oh Rich, you are such a jokester. I never know when to take you serious.

Who would have thought that oil formation was only a theory?

I keep getting a 404 error so I can't even see this link!

You can search the site, down at the bottom of the 404 error, but it didn't seem very informative, but if you look at this it pretty much outlines the whole deal.

Sorry guys.... I fixed the link....

And Wade, no, I'm not joking about this thing. But if someone can explain to me how animal and plant matter got to be three miles (and more) underneath the earth's crust and then have thousands of pounds per square inch of pressure applied to it, AND be of such quantities that we are seeing that is now compressed to make crude oil in the volume that has been pumped out of the earth in the past (plus all of the current existing reservoirs that still exist), I sure would like to hear of the mechanism that caused that to happen.

tectonic plate movement, but if you believed that to be feasible, then you'd have a new question, what about the massive oil fields in the middle of the plates that in the last 30-50 million years would have been completely unmolested by "pressure" and movement.

Most oil is MUCH older then that! Much of the oil reserves we currently use for supply were formed in the Permian, Missisipian, and Pensylvanian periods. Well, at least that is when the organic matter that formed them lived. During this time, the composition of the atmosphere was different than currently, and the climate was probably slightly warmer, so plants were HUGE! The predominant biome across most of the Earth's surface was swamp. (Think of those pictures you've seen of giant ferns...that's the time we're talking about). Very little that is currently oil was likely any creature big enough to worry about...mostly plants, bacteria, fungus, etc.

As for heat and pressure...the tectonic plate explanation is correct but very simplified. There is a whole lot of friction and stress in the lithosphere, even in locations that are in the center of a tectonic plate. Try grabbing your leg with two hands and twisting in opposite directions...you may notice some heat and pressure on your skin! As for things getting buried...erosion and uplift are happening constantly, and while they are faster at the edges of the plates, there is really noplace on Earth where they are not significant.

Finally, isotopic evidence from oil reserves and the presence of unique amino acids and other chemical evidence makes it fairly clear that the material that is now oil was once alive.

Hope that helped, at least a little...I teach geology and environmental science, so I'm not making this up...I can go find some references when it's not 1am!

oh I get what your saying, and yea, it was kinda late for me when I made my reply. There IS such a thing as Abiotic oil, it's been found on mars, in meteors, strange places on earth, so that isn't a phenomenon.

The real problem is this isn't just a finite resource, but it has come into question of how much there really is. Ten years ago they would have said a number (I can't remember exact amounts so I'll refrain) that is a mere fraction of what they say there is today. So now it becomes a big debate on how much oil is in the gulf, because they said one thing but it appears to be another, based on the spread of the rigs throughout the gulf recently...this number could be many times what was believed to be true.

And the price isn't really a supply vs demand, it's literally the increase in cost to survey, drill, pump, transport, refine, transport again, store, and distribute.

I.E. oil price has closely followed inflation since the 30s, look at the trends on the internet, they just about match up barring the hiccups in the 40s (wartime) 70s (gas crisis) and just two years ago (another gas crunch). Gas is expensive more so NOW because the government requires costly additives they didn't require 5 years ago.