By Rhoda Wilson - October 3, 2023

There are two basic theories for the origin of crude oil: biotic and abiotic

The origin of petroleum or natural gas may seem like a strange debate to have but determining whether this fuel is a ‘fossil fuel’ or not is important.

If these fuels are truly ‘fossil fuels’, then they are limited in supply and alternative energy resources would need to be created at some point.

If they are not ‘fossil fuels’ and are created through some form of abiogenesis – a natural process from non-living matter – then the need to develop alternative fuels is diminished.

The biotic theory is that oil and gas drilled out of the earth come from the remains of plants and animals trapped underground millions of years ago. These ‘fossil fuels’ took aeons to form and we are using them up far faster than they can be replenished.

This ‘fossil fuel’ theory is, however, just that – a theory. There are many features of the fossil-origin theory which still apparently puzzle some scientists. So, what if the whole theory is wrong?

The abiotic theory is an opposing view that has substantial evidence to back it up. This theory goes back centuries and includes as its prominent champions Dimitri Mendeleev, best known for inventing the periodic table.

Abiotic Oil Theory

While the chemistry is quite complex, environmental chemist Tristan Coleman wrote, the principle behind the abiotic oil idea is actually quite simple.

Carbon present in the magma beneath the Earth’s crust reacts with hydrogen to form methane and other hydrocarbons, with many chemically complex intermediate stages. Certain mineral rocks such as granite and other silicon-based rocks act as non-depleting catalysts to speed up the process.

Experiments have shown that under extreme conditions of heat and pressure, it is possible to convert iron oxide, calcium carbonate and water into methane as well as hydrocarbons containing up to ten carbon atoms.

Such experiments have been undertaken last century by Russian scientists as well as more recently in the US, and even more recently in Sweden.

The conditions in the Earth’s mantle would be sufficient for these small hydrocarbons to polymerise into the longer chain molecules found in crude oil, for example. Moreover, the limited oxygen present in the Earth’s magma prevents the hydrocarbons from burning up despite the intense heat and pressure.

The hydrocarbons of abiotic origin then migrate out of the mantle into the crust until they escape to the surface or are trapped by impermeable strata, forming petroleum reservoirs.

Sketch depicting the migration of abiotic oil upwards from the mantle into reservoirs contained by non-porous rock.

Evidence Supporting Abiotic Theory

Some people have been deeply interested in oil and its origins but their advocacy of abiotic theory has many dismissing them as heretics, frauds or idealists. They hold that oil can be derived from hydrocarbons that existed aeons ago in massive pools deep within the earth’s core. That source of hydrocarbons seeps up through the earth’s layers and slowly replenishes oil sources. In other words, it turns the fossil fuel paradigm upside down.

Russian And Ukrainian Geologists

A 1996 paper by Dr. J. F. Kenney titled ‘Special Edition on The Future of Petroleum’ points out how predictions made that the human race was imminently going to run out of available petroleum “have depended fundamentally upon an archaic hypothesis from the 18th century that petroleum somehow (miraculously) evolved from biological detritus, and was accordingly limited in abundance.”

The hypothesis that petroleum originated from biological matter (fossils) “has been replaced during the past forty years by the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of abyssal, abiotic petroleum origins which has established that petroleum is a primordial material erupted from great depth,” Kenney wrote.

In his paper, Kennedy quoted . . .

[SNIP]