Hydrocarbons: the hour of truth

There is a widespread belief in the world of energy policy and petroleum geology that mineral fuels, usually dubbed “fossils” are nearly exhausted.
What vary it the forecast ot their exhaustion. Some think that in 10 or 15 years the shortage is going to be noticed. Other optimists argue that mineral fuels will last more than 50 years, and even a century.
Uncertainties about future supply prospects so important from the point of technological, economic and political resources are demonstrative of the lack of a single model to analyze the issue.
In the 1950s, a Texas geologist named M. King Hubbert developed a curve as an analytical tool to predict the performance of the oil fields from discovery to exploitation, depletion and abandonment. This curve, now known as “Hubbert curve” allowed analyzing all the oilfields and forecast production capacity. In fact, many of Hubbert’s predictions were fulfilled.His curve was quite effective in predicting incapacity of US petroleum fields to meet the growing demand of the country. According to this curve it was expected that from 1970 on, the country would cease to be self-sufficient, which actually happened. In recent years several specialists in oil issues have attempted to apply the Hubbert curve with varying success.

Current world consumption of oil amounts to about 100 million barrels per day, or 35,000 million per year, with demand growing at a rate of 3% annually.
The predictions were originally alleged available reserves of 2 billion barrels of recoverable oil (2,000,000,000,000 barrels) and half of them may  have already been extracted (so would not only remove one trillion barrels).
To spend half of the reserves (which would be happening now), according to the Hubbert curve, would begin a phase of rapid decline.Therefore, always according to these predictions, we would be starting to suffer the first symptoms of the final oil crisis.
This forecast is based on the widespread belief that oil is fossil inn origin, and can only be extracted from sedimentary basins.
As the sedimentary basins have limited volumes, then hydrocarbon reserves would also be limited in a similar proportion.
In this scenario, it would imply an accelerated increase in oil prices, massive economic imbalances related to energy production, and growing social and political instability.
This situation would not have an apparent solution in sight because it would be very difficult, even impossible, to achieve a substantial reduction of energy world consumption, and there will be no alternative sources to within a few years to meet the growing needs of an overpopulated planet whose economies are based on the energy intensive technologies.
If, however, we apply the theory of planetary degassing and the deep biosphere concept of Thomas Gold, the conclusions would be very different.
First, due to the presence of hydrocarbons in all geological formations, including igneous and metamorphic rocks, we should recalculate inventories (reserves) of oil at regional and global level.
Moreover, as the formation of oil and natural gas occur in depth, there would be much larger volumes of hydrocarbons contained in the deep layers of the crust and even in the upper mantle.
It is possible that the amount of oil available on the planet is several orders of magnitude greater than that normally predicted. Perhaps there is oil and natural gas in sufficient volumes to supply humanity for many centuries, even millennia.
As oil (according to Gold) is a derivative of the natural gas (methane and others) its quantities are only limited by the physical-chemical conditions necessary for its formation. However, considering the natural gas stocks (particularly methane) available volumes oof petroleum may be enormous, thousands or hundreds of thousands of times larger than those usually considered.  To this fact, it should be added the content of methane hydrates in the bottom of the oceans which are extremely abundant and contain high proportions of gas (at ordinary pressure 168 liters of methane-gas per liter of solid methane hydrates).

In other words, according to the theory of planetary degassing, it can be said that, by adapting existing technologies to the consumption of gas, there would not be shortages for a long time, perhaps thousands of years.
However, environmental impacts can be felt much sooner. First, by the increase of carbon dioxide (the current content is 400 ppm increasing approximately 2 ppm per year) and other greenhouse gases (including methane and other gaseous hydrocarbons (including methne) and secondly , by the latent risk of excessive combustion (oxidation) of hydrocarbons might end up affecting the oxygen content in the atmosphere. The latter situation would be of the utmost gravity and for that reason it corresponds ensure that this does not happen.
At present oxygen is dropping 2 parts per million annually. As there+ are 210,000 ppm of oxygen in the atmosphere decrease appears irrelevant, however because the indispensability of oxygen for animal and human life these changes should be monitored carefully.

 From "Unexhaustible? Petroleum and Natural Gas". D.Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

Petroleum and Natural Gas are not FOSSIL fuels

A theory about the Earth dynamics that fits the data of reality

Danilo Anton

One of the main processes of internal dynamism of planets is outgassing. This involves the gradual rise of relatively light elements or compounds, which assume a gaseous state at sub-surface and surface pressure and temperature.
The main molecules that are part of the gaseous envelopes of the terrestrial planets are nitrogen, methane, carbon dioxide and water. Nitrogen is relatively abundant and tends to exudate outward forming "nitrogenous atmospheres" (when the planet's gravity is sufficient to hold them). Because of its chemically stable character it does not combine in its rise or during its stay in the atmosphere.
Carbon and hydrogenated compounds, by contrast, tend to have a much more active, particularly in the presence of some oxygen minerals, such as metal oxides and sulphates.
The fractures in the crust producced by compression, distention and heating as well as astronomical tides, facilitate the rise.
When combined with oxygen, methane: CH4 (which is the most common molecule in planetary interiors) generates CO2, CO and H2O, depending on the availability of oxygen. These carbonaceous fluids are injected into the solid masses generating lateral pressure in the fractures, widening and lubricating them. Thus, the movement of rock blocks, producing earthquakes and gas ejections are possible.
It is considered that most of the atmospheric and ocean carbon is immobilized in the form of carbonates. This composition can be logically explained by the theories of planetary degassing and mineral oil and gas and oxidation processes occurring in the subsurface layers.
Some authors (Thomas Gold, 1992 and 1999) attributed the occurrence of this process to the metabolism of underground bacteria. When methane in its ascent reaches a  depth of 5-10 kilometers with temperatures below 150 degrees Celsius a large underground bactetia flora develop. These bacteria are called hyperthermobacteria belonging to the Archaea biological domain. These bacteria base their metabolism in the oxidation of methane, producing CO2 and H2O from oxides, sulphates and other salts. Thus, reduced  oxides (eg magnetite), sulfides (pyrite, chalcopyrite, etc.) and other comopounds are formed . Part of the generated methane survives and emerges from the ocean floor and continents into the atmosphere being oxidized (forming CO2 amd water).  This water of "biochemical" origin is added to the water aporttadas by comet, asteroids and meteorites.
Upwelling of this set of deep (or "juvenile") water with various salts dissolved accumulates on the surface in oceans and other water bodies. There are methane seeps wherever there are ducts (fractures) to relieve pressure and allow its emergence. On the seabed, where the crust is thinner, there are countless sources of emission of methane and its by-products (water vapor, carbon dioxide). Cold water and results in the formation of methane hydrates which in some ocean floor areas may have hicknesses of several tens of meters.

Origin of oil, natural gas and carbonates

D.Anton
There are two main theories about the origin of the carbon compounds on the planet Earth. These compounds are diverse but predominantly expressed in the oxidized compounds (p.ej.el carbon dioxide and carbonates) and non-oxidized compounds (e.g. hydrocarbons). A majority hypothesis currently holds that carbon compounds originally come from a very rich atmosphere of carbon dioxide, while another theory considers these compounds originated deep in the crust and upper mantle and then rose in a slow and widespread degassing process.
Here we transcribe a text of "The Deep Hot Biosphere" by Thomas Gold (2001)
"According to the first theory on the earth 's near-surface enrichment in carbon, the initial blanket of carbon dioxide in the earth  atmosphere would have to have been very substantial . The figure implied  by the mass of carbonate rock would require a mass of carbon dioxide in the early atmosphere about  eighty times greater than the whole of our planet atmosphere and about as massive as that of our  sister planet Venus. In contrast, today's proportion of carbon dioxide in the earth's  atmosphere  is only 3.5 parts per ten thousand  by volume.

However, there is good reason to believe that the early earth did not acquire much material in the form of gases, because there is a very low abundance of gases such as neon, non-radiogenic argon, krypton, and xenon in the atmosphere today. No physical processcould have sorted out these inert gases from the solar system's gaseous mix,  where they are known to be consideerably more abundant. And because all these inert gases are heavy atoms, they would not have escaped the earth's gravity and drifted offf into space at a greater rate than other gaseous elements.
The only sound explanation, in my view, is that atmospheric gases have derived mainly from outgassing of volatiles derived at depth from buried solid materials- not from an initial large artmosphere acquired at the earth's formation or by later capture of gases from space.
The theory that the earth started out with a massive CO2, atmosphere fails in yet another way.-the pattern of carbonate rock deposition  through geological time does not support it.
Rather than a skewing of carbonate deposition to earlier times, the sedimentary records show a rather continuous accumulaton of such oxidized carbon, as well as unoxidized carbon over the last two billion years, which is the period of time over which the sedimentary record  is usefully intact. Indeed, the total carbon excess of the surface layers is clearly shown to have been increasing  since early times. Recycling cannot account for that. Rather a continuous addition drawn from sources upwelling  from within the earth must be held responsible.
Strangely, although most of the oxidized carbon that is in the carbonate deposits is derived from the atmospheric-ocenic pool  of carbon dioxide, the present content of carbon in this pool represents only about onepart in 740 of the known deposited amounts  (using the estimated total deposited carbon over thecourse of two billion years  and the measured cO2 content of atmosphere and oceans). What is the origin of the supply that maintains atmospheric CO2 at levels that result in the deposition ofcarbonates through all geological epochs and that maintains a supply ratesufficiently constant to keep plants alive?

If outgassing of carbon-containing volatiles from the depths of the earth were responsible, what mean rate of outflow would be implied?  Using the figures presented above, this global average rate of outgassing would have to be sufficient to replace the amount equal  to the present atmospheric-oceanic content ofcarbon dioxide every 2.7 million years. In other words, the carbon must have been replaced in those surface reservoirs 740 times in two billiion years.
As already mentioned, the chemistry of meteorites indicates that carbonates or other forms of oxidized carbon were not constituents of the materuals that formed the solid planets. Most of the carbon was initially in unoxidized form, primarily as hydrocarbons. The evidence from deep boreholes that are not too close  to active volcanic regions shows, in accordance with the meteorite evidence, that  hydrocarbons are the dominant carbon-bearing fluids there. At still deeper levels, where the pressure is so great that damonds are the stable form of carbon, unoxidized  carbon again evidently dominates and formss these crystals of pure carbon.
Some fraction of these upwelling carbon fluids, starting out largely in the form of CH4 and other light hydrocarbon molecules , will be oxidized  during the ascent.  The oxygen availabillity from the rocks, the temperature and pressure along the pathways of flow, and the action of subsurface microbial life will deteermine the ration of methane to carbon dioxide emerging from the ground
in any one region. Any methane that reaches the atmosphere without being oxidized to carbon dioxide in the oxygen-rich atmosphere and there join the pool of atmospheric-oceanic CO2. What fraction of all the upwelling carbon upwelling carbon volatiles would be delivered to the atmosphere as methane, and what fraction as carbon dioxide?
 The carbon dioxide coming from volcanoes is well studied , whereas the large quantities of methane that emerge from non-volcanic ground go mostly unnoticed. The (superficial) impression created by this is that carbon dioxide is the principal source of the source of the surface carbon excess, and that it also the main carbon-bearing gas in the ground.
An analysis of the isotopes of carbon, however, reveals an error in this dominant view. The study of the isotopes of carbon is a large and complex field. I will mention here only one aspect tthat bears directly on the subject  under discussion, but even that is necessarily rather technical. It has to be addressed becausethere hasbeen much debate about its interpretation and insignificance."
(to be continued)

Abiogenic origin of petroleum and gas

Petroleum issues are constantly on the front pages of the newspapers.

It is considered the most valuable resource in our contemporary energy-hungry civilization.

Oil and its derivatives are essential to move cars, airplanes, thermoelectric plants and plastic industries. Its economic importance is indisputable.

Geopolitical interests have generated instability in several oil producing countries leading to conflicts and wars and sustained variation in prices.

Sharp increases during the period 1970-1980 (from U$S 10 to U$S 100) per barrel, decreasing in the 1980s and increasing again in the first decade of the 21st century. During the last two years a sudden retreat of barrels

price took place, and by November 2015 it has reached 40 U$S. One of the main arguments for the 1970s price increase was based on the widespread belief that the genesis of oil and other hydrocarbons was biological

in nature, and therefore oil fields would be restricted exclusively to the sedimentary basins of the world.

Most scientists assume that it is in these basins that fossil plants and/or animals have accumulated to give rise to oil and natural gas.

So much so, that in the common vocabulary, hydrocarbons are called “fossil fuels”.

According to this reasoning, stocks of oil and gas would be limited and would be, by definition, non-renewable resources.

The predicted relatively low volumes of hydrocarbons, their non-renewable nature and their widespread need, would explain and justify past and potential future price increases and their importance in the economy of many countries.

At present these premises are generally accepted and political strategies of states and business organizations are based on them.

It is the theory of biological origin or biogenic of hydrocarbons.

However, with the currently available evidence, and based on the views of some astrophysicists and geologists, one can say that the belief that oil and gas have a fossil origin has a very weak scientific backing.

The substitute theory, which considers more adequately the data of reality, sustains that oil, natural gas and carbonaceous ore formations have a mineral origin and their stocks are virtually inexhaustible.

It is the mineral or abiogenic theory on the origin of hydrocarbons.

According to this approach, the hydrocarbons are generated through processes of planetary degassing. These are processes by which the various compounds of carbon and hydrogen rise from the planet’s interior and recombine in the upper mantle (adapting to new conditions of temperature and pressure) ascending into the Earth crust to accumulate in areas where this rise is obstructed (often in the sedimentary basins).

Some adherents to the mineral theory, particularly the Austrian astrophysicist Thomas Gold, argue that rising oil oxidizes in depth due to the action of certain bacteria (hyperthermal bacteria), forming water and carbon dioxide, and leaving behind reduced waste minerals (forming sometimes metallic ore).

These phenomena would occur in all planets of the solar system (and probably in other star systems) where temperature is appropriate.

Therefore it would be reasonable to assume that this type of underground life would be the rule while the shallow life (as in the Earth)

would be the exception.

Similarly, Gold says that the movements of hydrocarbonaceous fluids in depth and their surface emissions are causing the majority of seismic events and tsunamis (perhaps all).

In short, the integral and systemic theory developed by this Austrian astrophysicist radically rethinks, not only the beliefs about the origin of oil and other hydrocarbons, but the very foundations of geology and planetary astrophysics.

The book presented here aims to provide a synthesis of these ideas, framed in the new approaches about the nature of life and their distribution in space, developed by Fred Hoyle and other researchers

from the Institute of Astrobiophysics of Cardiff.

We aim to introduce new evidence on an issue that until now has been considered unilaterally, and even in a dogmatic manner, by many scientists and academics, with significant implications in terms of the economy and society.
Prologue to the book "·Unexhaustible? Natural gas and petroleum"", D.Anton, Piriguazù Ediciones