Petroleum: 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 forescast 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

Crisis in Venezuela

Venezuela's last presidential election has done nothing to end the country's profound political, economic, and social crisis.

Inflation is spiralling out of control, oil production is plummeting, foreign assets have been seized, there are serious shortages of food and medicine, tens of thousands are fleeing the country, and the incumbent government of Nicolas Maduro has increasingly weakened the country’s democratic instruments to cling to power.

The natural question in a country that boasts the world's largest proven oil reserves is, how did it come to this? Many have latched on to a simple answer: socialism. But is it really that simple?

Oil prices and policies

The underlying causes of Venezuela's hydra-headed crisis are economic, relating especially to oil and the foreign currency that it brings into the country.

The proximate cause of the recent turmoil is undoubtedly the 70-percent drop in oil prices in 2014, but the same problems that got exacerbated at that point were already in evidence five years earlier. And then, as now, they were fostered by poor policy choices.

Grave shortages are due largely to weak local production combined with a lack of foreign currency for imports, both of which relate to mismanagement of the local currency (the bolivar).

Essentially, in an attempt to prevent capital flight and currency collapse while also protecting local producers and enforcing labour law, Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez introduced controls on access to foreign currency. Subsidies and price controls were also implemented for many food items in order to keep them affordable to the poor, and an extremely generous subsidy on gasoline was maintained.

But since the bolivar was overvalued, local products became less competitive abroad, whereas foreign products became cheaper at home, thereby reducing demand for national produce. This effective subsidy on purchasing dollars spurred already strong demand from those keen to avoid inflation or devaluation of the local currency.

Many businesses and individuals were also willing to pay a premium to circumvent controls, either to avoid bureaucratic trade barriers or to safeguard the value of their capital, and a currency black market sprang up to cater for this demand. Where black-market dollars became part of the cost structure of basic goods, the profit margin between the cost of production and state-controlled prices narrowed or disappeared entirely, causing further damage to local production.

Beyond undermining local businesses, these policies also created opportunities and incentives for corruption, which grew in attractiveness in step with economic distortions, creating a vicious cycle.

The wider the gap between the official and black-market exchange rates, the greater the incentive to get hold of cheap official-rate dollars and resell them on the black market ("currency arbitrage"). The wider the gap between the prices of oil or foodstuffs in Venezuela and neighbouring countries, the greater the incentive to smuggle these products across the border for resale.

Differences in price are captured privately at the state's expense while producing nothing, which in turn leaves fewer resources available for the everyday business of running the country.

When the former finance minister Jorge Giordani resigned in protest of Maduro's mishandling of the economy, he estimated that between 2003 and 2012 a truly incredible $300bn was lost to currency arbitrage alone. In the short term, Chavez - unlike Maduro - prevented this problem from spiralling out of control by devaluing the local currency when official and black-market rates began to diverge significantly.

But in the long term, he placed his faith in a socioeconomic "about face". This transformation was premised on the power of a social economy that would use alternative forms of organisation, such as cooperatives and self-managed factories, to revive local production and provoke an empowering cultural shift towards active social engagement and solidarity.

But massive state investment in nationalised and self- or co-managed industries bore little fruit. And even though the number of cooperatives exploded, in practice they were often as inefficient, corrupt, nepotistic, and exploitative as the private sector that they were supposed to displace.

Inasmuch as these were statist policies of 21st-century socialism, we might indeed say socialism is to blame. But there is more to it.

Capitalism, culture, and context

First, it is important to realise that Chavez chose to call his transformative project "21st-century socialism", but Venezuela's economy remained market-based and private-sector dominated throughout his time in office. Though the social economy and the public sector were heavily promoted - including through nationalisation - the private sector was expected to remain dominant, and it did. A centrally planned socialist economy like Cuba's was neither the aim nor the reality. Second, part of the problem was always that oil-rich, hyper-consumerist Venezuela was the last place you would expect socialism to blossom - and these characteristics caused grave problems for the government.

The crucial role of oil in the international capitalist system makes oil-price volatility a central player in Venezuelan development, as Maduro has discovered to his cost.

But more importantly, the sheer value of oil provokes the "resource curse" in undiversified economies like Venezuela's. With boom-time windfalls favouring exchange-rate shifts that make other exports uncompetitive, "petromania" leads to lavish public spending, while distorted incentives undermine ethics, entrepreneurship, and efficiency throughout the state and wider society.

As Al Jazeera's insightful documentary The Battle for Venezuela explains, this is nothing new. On the contrary, Venezuela's formation as a state and as a society was intimately linked to the oil industry, and this is reflected in its politics. 

Oil, opposition, and obstacles to development

Long before Chavez took office in 1999, there were two Venezuelas: "the Venezuela that benefits from oil, and the Venezuela that remains in the shadow of the oil industry" as veteran Venezuela analyst Miguel Tinker Salas puts it.

The benefiting elite, from which the core of Venezuela's opposition emerged, rightly recognised that Chavez's promise to redistribute the oil wealth to the marginalised majority was sincere. But they also instinctively understood that Chavez wanted to rewrite the national narrative without the rich, white, educated, Western-facing elite as its heroes, thereby also robbing them of the social status that reproduced and ring-fenced their material wealth.

It is this cultural threat that explains the ferocity and durability of elite rage and obstructionism: staging the 2002 coup even though Chavez's democratic legitimacy was undoubted and then organising a devastating, management-led oil strike at a time when his economic policy remained more reformist than radical.

By his own account, it was the implacability and intransigence of this elite, bequeathed to him by Venezuela's capitalist history, that drove Chavez towards the idea of a more radical 21st-century socialism in 2005.

by Matias Vernengo

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/socialism-blame-venezuelas-crisis-180530095418091.html

They are not fossil fuels
Why natural gas and oil can be considered inexhaustible

For long periods of time, millions of years elapsed, long before the appearance of the human species, on the Earth's surface there were numerous hydrocarbon, gaseous, liquid and viscous surges. Hydrocarbon fluids emanated in the fumaroles and mud volcanoes to which were added gas leaks from volcanic eruptions and hyperthermal underwater emissions.
The fluids come out when the pressure exerted on the seal rock (the superimposed rock, which is above it) is greater than the weight of the mass.
In other words, there is no rock that can maintain a liquid that comes out with a pressure greater than that exerted by the weight of the overload.
A seal rock will give rise to a concentration of the fluids below it, but over time this concentration will come to exert a rising pressure greater than the weight of the overlying rock layers. At that time the upward flow will be restored to a value equal to the flow velocity at the depth source.
All available data tend to show that the theory of "fossil" origin is, at least, unsatisfactory.
Here we are talking about a very deep source (perhaps hundreds of kilometers, in the earth's mantle) and therefore we are considering very large volumes, something like 5 to 10% of the volume of the terrestrial mantle
Abiotic hydrocarbons
According to the vision of several Russian and Ukrainian oil geologists and the astrophysicist Thomas Gold, oil and gas result from the geological degassing of the planet that began at least 3,000 million years ago and continues today.
Existing oil and gas volumes would constitute a very high percentage of the planet's mass, with quantities much higher than currently estimated (perhaps hundreds or thousands of times greater). In otheA words, for all the purposes of our arrogant human civilization, oil and gas stocks would be inexhaustible.
This means that gas and oil are not going to end (at least in the next thousands of years) and that the main limitations for human societies could be the difficulty of accessing the deposits and their potential environmental impacts in the atmosphere, but not the exhaustion of "reserves". These impacts would include the increase of carbon dioxide (which could lead to a possible greenhouse effect, which is not yet proven) and the decrease in the percentage of oxygen contained in the air (much more serious, although its effects do not seem imminent) .
Another consequence of the theory is that there may be accumulations or oil and gas emanations on the entire surface of the planet. Of course there are areas where the presence of fractures and structural traps allow or allowed the accumulation of large volumes of hydrocarbons and there are the largest and most accessible deposits. However, it is possible to wait for the upwelling of hydrocarbons in ALL the fractured zones of the crust, especially in the periphery of the mountainous regions, in the zones of faults, in the continental borders, and of course in all the sedimentary basins that allowed the trapping of ascending hydrocarbons (for example, in the Gulf basins in the Middle East) there are stocks or possibilities of deposits or emanations of hydrocarbons, oil (liquid) and above all natural gas.

This topic was developed in depth in the following book:
- Inexhaustible? Oil and Natural Gas; Danilo Antón, Piriguazú Ediciones, Montevideo, 2006.

The United Arab Emirates

They are an exotic and exuberant expression of economic concentration and political conservatism in the shores of the Persian Gulf. 

The United Arab Emirates is a political federation and a hybrid monarchy located in the southern Persian Gulf  

Its territory is politically composed of seven emirates Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Ras al Khaima, Umm al-Qaywayn and Fujayra. 
It has 83,000 km2 and about 9,000,000 inhabitants, most of whom,  (some 5,500,000) are foreign workers. The Emiratis citizens are approximately 32% (3,400,000) of the total population.. 

Since 1820 the emirates of the Gulf became a British protectorate that later acquired the name of "Truce States" guaranteeing monopoly commercial and exploitation of resources to the United Kingdom. In 1968 they acquired independence (including Qatar and Bahrain, which later split up) with the name of the United Arab Emirates.

The largest emirate is Abu Dhabi with 67,000 km2 and more than 3 million inhabitants concentrated in the capital of the same name. The other most populated emirate, despite being considerably 
smaller, is Dubai with 3,000,000 inhabitants and 4,100 km2 

The other emirates have much less territorial and demographic ssignificance: Sharjah (234 km2 and 1,500,000 of inhabitants), Ajman (258 km2 and 260,000 inhabitants), Ras al Khaima (1,680 km2 and 230,000 inhabitants), Umm al-Qaywayn (780 km2 and 72,, 000 inhabitants) and Fujayra (1,150 km2 and 230,000 inhabitants.

The United Arab Emirates have an important economic income due to its oil and gas deposits. The

per capita gross income is estimated at US$ 70,000 that is would more than twice if we consider only the citizens of the country. 
Most oilfields in the UAE are offshore and continental in the territory of Abu Dhabi. 
The oil production of this emirate is 3,000,000 barrels per day, which constitutes one of the largest producers of crude oil in the world crude. The main deposits are offshore in the Gulf waters especially in the oil field called "Upper Zakum" located 50 km northwest of Abu Dhabi. The structural frrame of this field is relatively simple with layers gently folded and deformed in which the hydrocarbons are contained. Geologically and structurally the field is constituted by an Ç
wide anticline (convex fold) whose axis extends East-West with mild dip (inclination). The hydrocarbons are contained in a Cretaceous limestone (approximate age: 100 millions of years)  

The formation is called Zakum Superior which is part of  the Group Thanama (sedimentary) formed by carbonated rocks of lower Cretaceous age representing the most important reservoir in the productive zone of Abu Dhabi. Two oil systems have been identified with the existence of two source rocks that would could be sources of hydrocarbons (this requires confirmation).

As always the abundance and sustainability of the flow of oil in this deposit suggests that in addition (or instead of) the existence of the alleged source rocks it may exist upwelling coming from deeper levels of abiotic origin 
(To be continued)

From the book "Geopolitics and geology of petroleum and natural gas", D.Anton, Piriguazú Ediicones

From the book "Unexhaustible? Patroleum and natural gas.", D.Anton, Piriguazù Ediciones

Chapter 1

Introduction

In matters of science, the authority of one thousand people may be worth less than  the humble reasoning of a single individual                                                                                  Galileo Galilei

During the twentieth century, and so far in this century, oil and natural gas have become essential strategic elements in economy and geopolitics.

Despite their importance and daily prominence, there are continual confusion and even conceptual contradictions, both from the point of view of their origin, such as abundance.

What is petroleum?l

Oil comes from the word petra (Greek and Latin: stone) and elaion or oleum (Greek and Latin, respectively, meaning oil), i.e. “oil of stone”.

For the Hispano-American Encyclopedic Dictionary of 1888

petroleum is:

“A lighter than water liquid bitominous substance found in underground reservoirs of dark color, and strong odor.”

In Encyclopedia Britannica, published in 1979, oil is more rigorously defined as a “complex mixture of liquid hydrocarbons that are widely distributed in the earth.”

For Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia on the Internet, petroleum is:

“A thick liquid, dark brown or greenish, consisting of a complex mixture of various hydrocarbons, preferably of the alkane series, that can vary greatly in appearance, composition and purity.

What is natural gas?

Natural gas, formerly called marsh gas or coal gas, has been defined by Encyclopedia Britannica as “a mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons, particularly methane and ethane that occurs beneath the surface of the earth.”

Wikipedia introduces elements of hypothetical genesis saying:  “natural gas is a mixture often found in fossil beds, alone or accompanying oil or coal deposits.”

Hydrocarbon mixtures

Oil and gas consist of hydrocarbons of varying composition from light gases such as methane and ethane, to complex mixtures of liquid substances more or less viscous at the surface temperature, such as naphtha (hydrocarbons of low viscosity) and bitumen (high viscosity hydrocarbons).

Both oil and gas may be combusted in oxygen at different temperatures according to the composition of the mixtures.

For that reason both are used as fuels for multiple purposes: for cooking (kerosene, natural gas), for car and truck engines (fuel oil and gasoline), aircraft engines (special gasoline), etc.

The exploitation of sources of oil and natural gas

Since ancient times human societies exploited the major hydrocarbons.

upwelling sites.

Where there were gas emissions and emissions of hydrocarbons and natural bitumen tar, local populations used them for lighting, heating and other purposes. This is the case of the tar lakes in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and the coastal regions of Venezuela.

From those beginnings, the role of oil as an energy source has been growing.

This trend has particularly accelerated since the invention of the combustion engine in the late nineteenth century.

Throughout the twentieth century, the consumption of oil increased exponentially up to the contemporary situation in which it represents the major source of energyworldwide.

While they are consumed everywhere, the production areas are restricted to certain geological areas, such as the foothills of some mountain ranges, continental shelves and surroundings of volcanic arcs.

Less frequently fields are located in continental shields and granite massifs.

Because of the economic role and its relative scarcity, it is of  of particular interest to know the origin, dynamics and location of sources of hydrocarbon deposits that can be exploited.

Theories about the origin of hydrocarbons

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 the biogenic hypothesis 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. Sedimentary mantles are relatively thin (in geophysical terms). They are usually 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 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 they 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, 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. At the time it was noted 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.

Hydrocarbons, origin and availability

Oil and gas consist of hydrocarbons of varying composition from light gases such as methane and ethane, to complex mixtures of liquid substances more or less viscous at the surface temperature, such as naphtha (hydrocarbons of low viscosity) and bitumen (high viscosity hydrocarbons).

Both oil and gas may be combusted in oxygen at different temperatures according to the composition of the mixtures.

For that reason both are used as fuels for multiple purposes: for cooking (kerosene, natural gas), for car and truck engines (fuel oil and gasoline), aircraft engines (special gasoline), etc.

The exploitation of sources of oil and natural gas

Since ancient times human societies exploited the major hydrocarbons.

upwelling sites.

Where there were gas emissions and emissions of hydrocarbons and natural bitumen tar, local populations used them for lighting, heating and other purposes. This is the case of the tar lakes in Mesopotamia (Iraq) and the coastal regions of Venezuela.

From those beginnings, the role of oil as an energy source has been growing.

This trend has particularly accelerated since the invention of the combustion engine in the late nineteenth century.

Throughout the twentieth century, the consumption of oil increased exponentially up to the contemporary situation in which it represents the major source of energyworldwide.

While they are consumed everywhere, the production areas are restricted to certain geological areas, such as the foothills of some mountain ranges, continental shelves and surroundings of volcanic arcs.

Less frequently fields are located in continental shields and granite massifs.

Because of the economic role and its relative scarcity, it is of  of particular interest to know the origin, dynamics and location of sources of hydrocarbon deposits that can be exploited.

Theories about the origin of hydrocarbons

 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 the biogenic hypothesis 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. Sedimentary mantles are relatively thin (in geophysical terms). They are usually 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 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 they 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, 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. At the time it was noted 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 origin of metallic minerals and ores.
From "Unexhaustible? Petroleum and natural gas", D.Anton, Piriguazú Ediciones.

Future availability of petroleum and natural 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 reached 40 U$S.

The price continued to descend reaching below 30 dollars to go up again.  Presently, in 2018,  the Brent barrel has attained 67 dollares.

One of the main arguments for the 1970s and other price increases at later dates, was based on the widespread belief that the genesis of oil and other hydrocarbons were 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? Oil 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$S. In 2017 the prices stay around 50 U$S dollares.
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 governments 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 abiotic theory, which considers more adequately the data of reality, sustains that oil, natural gas and hydrocarbons have a mineral origin and their stocks are virtually inexhaustible.
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 mainly a result of the action of certain bacteria (hyperthermal bacteria), forming water and carbon dioxide, and leaving behind reduced waste minerals (including some metallic ores).
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 hydrocarbon 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.

From "Unexhaustible? Oil and Gas", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones

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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.