Russian  and  Ucranian  geologists  and  engineers found several oil fields in crystalline terrains

Danilo Anton

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"   

Another scientist who developed the theory of mineral oil was 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.   

The Soviet Union became the first world producer of hydrocarbons in the 1980's

Unfortunately, during many years European and Northamerican petroleum geologists and engineers, who did not read Sovietic scientific papers did not know of these very important experiences. The Caspian Sea district, which is one of the most productive in the old Soviet countries has about 80 oil fields in crystalline shield. According to Aguilera (1995b) y Krayushkin et al (1994) in productive oil wells drilling did not stop upon hitting the crystalline basement..

There was a Conference on Petroleum in Granite (1997) in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. Papers were presented on several oil fields developed in granitic formations, The main ones are located in Chibuiuskoye, Verkhnechutinskoye e Iskosgorinskoye, together with the productive areas of Zelenetsky, Chernorechensky, Lekkemsky and Timansky

Krayushkin et al (1994) carried out an exploration project in the Dnieper-Donets basin.

The program resulted in the discovery and development of 12 oil fields with 219 millons metric tons reserves. Most of them, according to Krayushkin et al (1994) are located in Pre-Cambrian crystalline shield terrains.

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.

From "Inexhaustibles? Petroleum and Gas", Danilo Anton, Piriguazu Ediciones