Huge volumes of petroleum in depth

Oil comes from the mantle  

Danilo Anton
Since  late 19th Century two theories about the origin of terrestrial hydrocarbons coexisted:

1) The biogenic theory, which held that hydrocarbons were of biological origin, resulting from the accumulation and "maturation" of fossil plants and animals, and 

2) The mineral or abiogenic theory, which argued that hydrocarbons were of mineral origin coming from inside the Earth, accumulating in areas with suitable geological conditions or sprouting in liquid or gas seeps on the surface.

The biogenic theory

Since the early 20th Century it was the biogenic hypothesis that was imposed worldwide, particularly in Western countries.

Today most geologists, both oil and structural geologists, sedimentologists and geophysicists, are inclined to think that hydrocarbons, oil and natural gas, have an old biological origin, and for that reason they are often called "fossil fuels".

Being defined as fuels of biological origin, dependent on the accumulation of organic matter through geological time, their volumes would necessarily be restricted to the sedimentary basins and its vicinity. The sedimentary mantles are relatively thin (in geophysical terms). They usually are a few hundred or thousands of meters thick and rarely exceed 10 kilometers, slightly more than one thousandth of the terrestrial radio (which is 6,500 km).

The conclusion of this prevailing scientific paradigm is that the exploitation of this resource gradually will fade and inevitably it will end in the near future..

The mineral theory or abiogenic

The biogenic theory, which is accepted by most geologists, has been and is being challenged by some scientists, particularly Russians and Ukrainians, who argue that both oil and natural gas are of mineral origin, coming from inside the Earth, that their volumes are very large, and therefore it is unlikely that will be exhausted in the foreseeable future.

The mineral theory was originally driven in the nineteenth century by famous Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev, French chemist Marcellin Berthelot and others.

In 1877 Mendeleev said:

"A capital fact is that oil is born in the depths of the earth, and that it is there where we must seek its origin" ¹  

Another scientist who developed the theory of mineral oil was the Russian geologist Nikolai Alexandrovich Kudryavtsev.

This researcher proposed the abiotic hypothesis in 1951 based on the huge volumes of hydrocarbons accumulated in bitumimous sands of Alberta, Canada, which he thought inexplicable in the absence of a plausible mother rock.

In 1967 the Ukrainian geologist Emmanuil Chekaliuk developed a thermodynamic theory of the origin of oil. He sustained that it formed at high pressure and temperature deep in the Earth's mantle. It was noted at the time that the theory had been confirmed by experimental studies by J.F. Kenney and his Russian colleagues.   

In the decades from 1970 to 2000, based on the above work, the Austrian astrophysicist Thomas Gold formulated a theory about the origin and evolution of hydrocarbons which he considered were generated from depth. This hypothesis included several innovative elements introducing a real paradigmatic review of many terrestrial geological processesl.

Gold's vision goes beyond the oil issue to address multiple aspects in the field of earth sciences, proposing, with very solid criteria, new ways to interpret many geological phenomena, including the dynamics of formation of metallic ores.

Preliminary conclusion

We believe that the abiotic theory is closer to geological reality and that time will finally demonstrate its validity. This will have profound influence in the word economy and international geopolitics.
In the following chapters of this book the main elements that confirm the abiotic theory about the origina of petroleum and natural gas will be explained.
From the book "Inexhaustible? Petroleum and Natural Gas" by Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones.