It’s not that I am advocating the use of oil as fuel, but knowing that oil is a renewable resource brings humanity closer to abundance mentality that is less apt to fight for limited resources. Of course, knowing that oil is limited and still not prepared to fight for it would be even better. And, knowing that water has 26 times more energy than oil and that the energy is obtainable by today’s technology would be ideal, but I am digressing… This fact about oil I had known for some time, but the material I read was not in a neat, publishable format. This one is.

EagleEyes

Fossils From Animals And Plants Are Not Necessary For Crude Oil And Natural Gas, Swedish Researchers Find


What would happen if it were proven that "fossil fuels" weren’t the
result of decaying plant and animal matter, were actually created within
the Earth due to simple chemistry and you could not be scared into
believing that we were "running out" of oil and natural gas?

Estimates of how much crude oil we have extracted from the planet vary
wildly. As late as May of 2009 a report published in the International
Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology suggested that we may have used
more than we think.

The idea that we are running out of oil is not a new one. Scientists
have told us that oil is a limited resource which was formed millions of
years ago by the decaying vegetation and biomass of extinct species of
plants and animals. With an estimated 1- trillion barrels of oil already
extracted from deep wells since commercial drilling began around 1870,
many predict that we are nearing the mid-point of remaining oil on the
planet.

But there have always been those who claim that oil is a natural
substance that forms automatically in the Earth’s mantle. They say that
it is virtually everywhere, if you can drill deep enough to tap it.

Proponents of so-called "abiotic oil" claim that the proof is found in
the fact that many capped wells, which were formerly dry of oil, are
found to be plentiful again after many years, They claim that the
replenished oil is manufactured by natural forces in the Earth’s mantle.

Critics of the abiotic theory disagree. They claim that capped wells may
appear to refill after a few years, but they are not regenerating. It
is simply an effect of oil slowly migrating through pore spaces from
areas of high pressure to the low-pressure area of the drill hole. If
this oil is drawn out, it will take even longer for the hole to refill
again. They hold that oil is a non-renewable resource generated and
deposited under special biological and geological conditions.

Until now these believers in "abiotic oil" have been dismissed as professing "bad science" but — alas — a new study has proven them correct!

Reported in ScienceDaily, researchers at the Royal Institute of
Technology (KTH) in Stockholm have managed to prove that fossils from
animals and plants are not necessary for crude oil and natural gas to be
generated. The findings are revolutionary since this means, on the one
hand, that it will be much easier to find these sources of energy and,
on the other hand, that they can be found all over the globe.

"Using our research we can even say where oil could be found in Sweden,"
says Vladimir Kutcherov, a professor at the Division of Energy
Technology at KTH.

Together with two research colleagues, Vladimir Kutcherov has simulated
the process involving pressure and heat that occurs naturally in the
inner layers of the earth, the process that generates hydrocarbon, the
primary component in oil and natural gas.

According to Vladimir Kutcherov, the findings are a clear indication
that the oil supply is not about to end, which researchers and experts
in the field have long feared.


Abiotic Oil


The abiotic oil formation theory suggests that crude oil is the result
of naturally occurring and possibly ongoing geological processes. This
theory was developed in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, as the
Union needed to be self sufficient in terms of producing its own energy.
The science behind the theory is sound and is based on experimental
evidence in both the laboratory and in the field. This theory has helped
to identify and therefore develop large numbers of gas and oil
deposits. Examples of such fields are the South Khylchuyu field and the
controversial Sakhalin II field.

In its simplest form, the theory is that carbon present in the magma
beneath the crust reacts with hydrogen to form methane as well as a raft
of other mainly alkane hydrocarbons. The reactions are more complicated
than this, with several intermediate stages. Particular mineral rocks
such as granite and other silicon based rocks act as catalysts, which
speed up the reaction without actually becoming involved or consumed in
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, with hydrocarbons containing up to 10 carbon atoms
being produced by Russian scientists last century and confirmed in
recent US experiments. The absence of large quantities of free gaseous
oxygen in the magma prevents the hydrocarbons from burning and therefore
forming the lower energy state molecule carbon dioxide. The conditions
present in the Earth’s mantle would easily be sufficient for these small
hydrocarbon chains to polymerise into the longer chain molecules found
in crude oil.

Vladimir Kutcherov adds that there is no way that fossil oil, with the
help of gravity or other forces, could have seeped down to a depth of
10.5 kilometers in the state of Texas, for example, which is rich in oil
deposits. As Vladimir Kutcherov sees it, this is further proof,
alongside his own research findings, of the genesis of these energy
sources — that they can be created in other ways than via fossils. This
has long been a matter of lively discussion among scientists.

"There is no doubt that our research proves that crude oil and natural
gas are generated without the involvement of fossils. All types of
bedrock can serve as reservoirs of oil," says Vladimir Kutcherov, who
adds that this is true of land areas that have not yet been prospected
for these energy sources.

But the discovery has more benefits. The degree of accuracy in finding
oil is enhanced dramatically — from 20 to 70 percent. Since drilling
for oil and natural gas is a very expensive process, the cost picture
will be radically altered for petroleum companies, and in the end
probably for consumers as well.

"The savings will be in the many billions," says Vladimir Kutcherov.

To identify where it is worthwhile to drill for natural gas and oil,
Vladimir Kutcherov has used his research to arrive at a new method. It
involves dividing the globe into a finely meshed grid. The grid
corresponds to fissures, so-called ‘migration channels,’ through
underlying layers under the surface of the earth. Wherever these
fissures meet, it is suitable to drill.

According to Vladimir Kutcherov, these research findings are extremely
important, not least as 61 percent of the world’s energy consumption
derives from crude oil and natural gas.

The next step in this research work will involve more experiments, but
above all refining the method will make it easier to find places where
it is suitable to drill for oil and natural gas.

Vladimir Kutcherov, Anton Kolesnikov, and Alexander Goncharov’s research
work was recently published in the scientific journal Nature
Geoscience.

More at: http://viewzone2.com/abioticoilx.html