More evidence for "Abiotic" oil

By Alan David Bergey on 28 August 2012 - 3:30pm

My belief is that oil comes not from living organic matter but produced from the primordial earth.   It was then locked deep within the earth as the earths crust formed..    This theory comes from Russian scientist in the 1950’s. (Its not a new theory)    Below I note the main reasons why the “Fossil fuel” theory should be refuted.

1.   There is massive amounts of oil.    Every time the industry says “they are running out of oil” they find more.   They have been claiming that they are running out of oil for 100 years (with a big scare in the 1970’s) and as time has gone on the have always found more reserves.    The oil industry itself has consistently underestimated the oil reserves especially if “recoverable reserves” are considered  rather than proven reserves.

How much oil is there?   There is a Massive difference between “ known oil in place” and“proven oil reserves”

By definition “Proven oil reserves”  are those reserves claimed to have a reasonable certainty (normally at least 90% confidence) of being recoverable under existing economicand political conditions, with existing technology. At present for the whole world this is estimated to be 1.35 Trillion barrels.   For the USA this is at present is estimated to be 22 Billion Barrels ( Conventional drilling for oil).   For Canadian tar sands it is 173 Billion barrels.   Therefore as technology increases or the price increases “known oil in place” ( read below) can become “proven oil reserves”

“ known oil in place” is what geologist estimate is the total amount of oil that is there.  For USA, it is 3 Trillion Barrels,  if all oil shale’s are included,  (1000 times proven reserves). The Bazhenov. field in Western Siberia, in Russia has recently been estimated to be 80 times the size the of the Green river formation in the USA the largest previous known formation.  See web article below. (http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2012/06/04/bakken-bazhenov-shale-oil/)  For the Canadian tar sands 1.7 – 2 Trillion Barrels, a minimum of 10 times proven reserves.   The Venezuelan,  government claims a reserve of bitumen even greater than Alberta's,  Estimated total of Canada+ Venezuelan  3 -5.4 Trillion Barrels.  .

Map of known tar and oil shale’s on the planet and articles.http://thetyee.ca/News/2010/09/09/OilSandsWorld/  http://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2011/01/14/TarSandsWorldsDirtiest/

2.      Initial theory of Fossil oil.  When the initial theory of “Fossil oil” appeared around 1890 the scientific community did not know that the primordial earth had a atmosphere consisting of mainly Carbon Dioxide, Methane, Water vapor and Ammonia.   Nor did they know that these compounds existed on the gas giants and some of their moons in our solar system.     The theory was therefore by default because they could not think of any other place the oil could come from.

3        Russian oil exploitation.  There are presently more than 80 oil and gas fields in the Caspian district alone which were explored and developed by applying the perspective of the abiotic theory which produce oil from the crystalline basement rock. (Krayushkin, Chebanenko et al. 1994)    Crystalline basement rock forms below sedimentary rock.   Clearly the oil could not form above basement rock and then seep through it.    Similarly, exploration in the western Siberia cratonic-rift sedimentary basin has developed 90 petroleum fields of which 80 produce either partly or entirely from the crystalline basement.

4        Depth that oil is found.    Oil is being found at depths of  30,000 feet.    The deepest fossils known are from 16,000 feet.   How could oil form from fossils if  some oil is 14,000 feet below any of the deepest fossils. 

5            Chemical differences of Crude Oil to that in life.

The various elements that make up the cell ( Life) and Crude Oil are:                                                 

Element	Weight %  in life	Weight %  in oil	Ratio:  Life / oil	Element is:
Hydrogen	10.2	14	1:1.37	Concentrated
Oxygen	66	1	66:1	De-concentrated
Carbon	17.5	84	1:4.8	Concentrated
Nitrogen	2.4	1	2.2:1	De- Concentrated
Sulfur	0.2	2	10:1	Concentrated
Phosphorous	0.9	0.00015	10000:1	De- Concentrated
Calcium	1.5	15* ppm	1000:1	De- Concentrated
Magnesium	500ppm	5* ppm	100:1	De- Concentrated
Vanadium	Trace(1 ppm)	1200 ppm **	1200:1	Concentrated

* Maximum found in Pakistani oil fields

** Vanadium is present in fossil fuel deposits such as crude oil, coal, oil shale and tar sands.  There is considerable variation in concentration..   In crude oil, concentrations up to 1200 ppm have been reported.

Chemical nature of Crude Oil.    Crude oil is mainly hydrocarbons with very little oxygen and consists mainly of the following compounds.

•  Paraffin’s, general formula: CnH2n+2 (n is a whole number, usually from 1 to 20) straight- or branched-chain molecules can be gasses or liquids at room temperature depending upon the molecule examples: methane, ethane, propane, butane, iso-butane, pentane, hexane
• Aromatics, general formula: C6H5 - Y (Y is a longer, straight molecule that connects to the benzene ring) ringed structures with one or more rings.  Rings contain six carbon atoms, with alternating double and single bonds between the carbons typically liquids examples: benzene, naphthalene
• Napthenes or Cycloalkanes general formula: CnH2n (n is a whole number usually from 1 to 20) ringed structures with one or more rings.  Rings contain only single bonds between the carbon atoms typically liquids at room temperature examples: cyclohexane, methyl cyclopentane
• Other hydrocarbons Alkenes general formula: CnH2n (n is a whole number, usually from 1 to 20) linear or branched chain molecules containing one carbon-carbon double-bond can be liquid or gas examples: ethylene, butene, Isobutene Dienes and Alkynes general formula: CnH2n-2 (n is a whole number, usually from 1 to 20) linear or branched chain molecules containing two carbon-carbon double-bonds can be liquid or gas examples: acetylene, butadienes

This nothing like the compounds in life, which tend to be carbohydrates, Cm(H2O)n Polysaccharides(e.g., starch and glycogen), cellulose in plants and chitin in arthropods), amino acids (Some Nitrogen) and fats and fatty acids (Glycerol based).   The “oil experts” say the decayed products of life are buried deep underground and cooked under heat and pressure to obtain  crude oil. ( OK but I have yet to see validated chemical reaction to produce crude oil under those conditions. )

However Ultra Violet (UV)  free radical polymerization seems quite possible with the action of  UV light from the sun on the primordial atmosphere.   I suspect something like below.

CH4 + hv   -----------------------------  CH3•  + H      ( Free radical)

CH3•  + CH3•    -------------------------  C2H6  (Ethane)

CH3 CH3   + hv    --------------------------------- CH3 CH2•    + H

CH3 CH2•    + CH3 CH2•   -----------  C4H10   (Butane)

CH3 CH2 – CH2 CH3   +  hv   ------   CH3  CH•  - •CH  CH3    + 2H

CH3 CH•  - •CH CH3    ® CH3 – CH – CH - CH3   (Butene)

Higher molecular weight polymers can be formed by more addition of methane / ethane and obviously for higher chain molecules  (C6+)  cyclic compounds. The higher the molecular weight  / boiling temperature the more likely the hydrocarbon will “rain out” of the atmosphere.

There are also papers describing that electrical discharge ( Lightening in atmosphere)  can also polymerize methane to higher molecular weight hydrocarbons.

UV polymerization of methane is also suggested for Titans (Saturn’s moon)  atmosphere of methane into ethane and higher molecular weight alkanes

Earth : Average distance from sun 149.6 million km
Saturn : Average distance from sun 1.43 billion km  == 9.5 times distance therefore 91 times less UV light per unit area than earth ( R2)

If it can occur on Titan then it could certainly happen on the primordial earth.

7          Oil found under salt domes:  Conventional theory says that oil is under salt domes because the salt was deposited through drying of lakes and seas.   Fossil life was buried underneath the salt layer ( How? Why not within the salt!) then all is deeply buried.      The salt being a weak rock buckled under pressure ( Yes ) forming salt domes.   I think that the buckling of the salt causes cracks in the underling rock and so allows abiotic oil to come up from deep below and is trapped beneath impermeable rock / salt layer.

8          Life recycles, generally not buried in the earth.  When a plant or animal dies very little is truly buried.    Mostly it is re-cycled by insects, micro-organisms, fungus’s, bacteria and Actinolites.

9          How much oil have humans used?   Estimates vary,  Istvan Lakatos and Julianna Lakatos-Szabo of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences estimate 700 Billion barrels.   John Jones in the School of Engineering, at the University of Aberdeen, UK estimate 944 Billion barrels.   Today oil consumption estimated at 90 Million barrels per day.   Therefore 32.5 Billion barrels per year.  Therefore in 29 maximum of years this will be we will double the oil we have used. ( At no growth).

9            Economics of oil    What this means is that all the oil companies have to do is to drill deeper into basement rock where there has been folding or cracking underneath so that oil seepage could occur and they are likely to find  conventional oil.    Although drilling deeper is more expensive it is not prohibitively so and as technology increases going deeper will be more economic.   The other important issue is this.    As explained above there are massive amounts of unconventional oil.    The amount of money spent by oil companies  on Research and Development for extracting unconventional oil will almost certainly reduce the extraction and processing costs.  Shell recently estimated that it could extract shale oil at $30 a barrel and the present 2012 price is $70-$90 a barrel.

The  price of oil today is almost nothing to do with the cost of getting it out of the ground.    The reality is that the high price is due to speculation ( World price for oil)  and deliberately induced shortages both in crude oil production and refinery production..      I have read that oil could be extracted in shallow wells ( Saudi Arabia)  at a profit of $5 a barrel.   Even the Canadian tar sands may only require $25 per barrel.    Speculation is very finicky.  If it is thought there was a over abundance of oil then the “world price” could drop dramatically and conversely a shortage large price increases and we are seeing large fluctuations in price over short periods of time.

 The environmental cost are not in the equation for costs.   For instance if climate change effects food production or  global warming causes the sea level to rise the cost of coastal flooding  is not considered.      

Green party policy.     Therefore to stop using oil must be political.  It cannot be economic because technology will keep the price down and present oil speculation is questionable for long term high prices.   Green Party policy must be “ Stop drilling for more oil”   Even if for instance they were to find a massive oil field in Canada that was “cheep oil” we cannot allow the oil companies to extract it. 

We need to take political stand for the future and the environment and ignore the present false economics of oil.

To emphasize this the Green Party should stop calling oil a fossil fuel and name it by its more accurate name of  “abiotic fuel”. ( This also includes natural gas.)

 The last thing the planet and the human race needs is more oil!

Alan Bergey

Source: http://www.greenparty.ca/blogs/12489/2012-08-28/more-evidence-abiotic-oil

The Combination of Governance Reforms That Improved Eskom’s Performance- by Anton Eberhard & 3 others in ‘Africa’s Power Infrastructure: Investment, Integration, Efficiency’ (IBRD/World Bank, 2011)

"...The experience of Eskom, South Africa’s national electricity utility, provides a model for the implementation of governance reforms. A clear distinction is now made between the shareholder ministry (Public Enterprises) and the sector policy ministry (Energy). In addition, an independent authority regulates market entry through licenses, sets tariffs, and establishes and monitors technical performance and customers’ service standards. Eskom was corporatized through the
Eskom Conversion Act and is subject to ordinary corporate law. It must pay dividends and taxes and publish annual financial statements according to international accounting standards. The board (appointed by the Minister of Public Enterprises) is responsible for day-to-day management subject to a performance contract that includes a range of key performance indicators.

Additional legislation (the Public Finance Management Act and the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act) defines in more detail how the utility should handle finance, information disclosure, reporting, and authorizations. A general corporate governance code also applies to all state-owned enterprises. The performance contract is monitored, albeit not very effectively, by the Ministry of
Public Enterprises. The utility benefits from separate subsidies for electrification connections and for consumption (poor households receive their first 50 kilowatthours each month free of charge).

After reforms in the 1980s and the appointment of an experienced private sector manager as Eskom’s chief executive officer, a commercial culture was embedded within the utility, separate business units were created with business plans and new budgeting and accounting systems, and outsourcing was used
more widely. Eskom is a mixed-capital enterprise. Although wholly owned by the state, it raises capital on private debt markets, locally and internationally, through issuing bonds. It is rated by all the major global credit agencies. Eskom managers are acutely aware that their financial performance is subject to thorough external scrutiny. Any possible downgrading of their debt can make capital scarce or more expensive when they embark on a major capital expansion program.

These reforms have caused Eskom to perform relatively well compared with other African utilities. Recently, however, Eskom has had to institute load shedding because it has had insufficient generation capacity to meet demand. Policy uncertainties and an earlier prohibition on Eskom’s investing in new capacity while private sector participation was being considered have led to capacity shortages.
What Eskom lacks most of all is direct competition. Eskom is dominant in the region; it generates 96 percent of South Africa’s electricity, transmits 100 percent, and distributes approximately 60 percent. Neither government nor the regulator has a good enough idea of Eskom’s actual efficiency or inefficiency. Indications suggest that planning and cost controls could improve. Only direct competitors
could provide an appropriate benchmark..."

THE ABIOTIC THEORY OF HYDROCARBON GENERATION
V.C. Kelessidis

The general saying among oil well drillers is that oil is where you find it, meaning that oil has been found in traditional and non-traditional places. What of course is considered traditional is that oil is found in sedimentary rocks, very close to the surface in the beginning of the century, while nowadays it may be found at considerable depths, now reaching almost 9000 m from the surface. There are of course finds in fractured basement rocks (metamorphic or igneous rocks) from where they are produced (Sircar, 2004). Batchelor and Gutmanis (2005) have compiled an extensive list of fields producing hydrocarbons from basement rocks, although most petroleum geologists dismiss them as being of non-commercial value.

However, White Tiger, the oil field in Vietnam may prove them wrong because it is an excellent example of production from basement rock. The field currently produces 350.000 barrel oil per day, expecting to produce overall 600 million barrels (47 years of production at this place). The granitic basement rock is highly fissured with apparent permeabilities ranging from a few mD to up to 464 mD (Chan et al., 2006). The oil that is produced, however, has been characterized of biogenic origin (Nemchenko et al., 2007) with migration from underlying sedimentary rocks.

Of course, we find oil ‘where it is’, where it has remained for ages, but how was it formed? Current belief is that oil is of biotic origin, through accumulation of organic matter (plankton, single cell organisms that floated on ocean surface) and sedimentation followed by burial. For large periods organic material has been under very high pressures and temperatures, in the range of 130-150 °C , in a ‘cooking pot’ and gradually transformed to petroleum. Because of its lower density, it has migrated upwards and some surfaced and was lost, while some has hit non-permeable layers (the seal) and accumulated in the porous sedimentary rocks creating the world’s oil and gas fields.

There is, however, another school of thought, not very well known until recent years, which is gaining, though, momentum. It is the theory of abiotic (or abiogenic) origin of petroleum, that hydrocarbons have been formed in the depths of Earth by reduction of CO2 and H2 gases in the presence of metal catalysts (Gold and Soter, 1980; Kenney, 1994; Krayushkin et al., 1994; Glasby, 2006; Wikipedia, 2009). The consequences of course of such a theory, if true, could be extraordinary, as Earth’s mantle becomes the inexhaustible provider of the cheapest energy source on Earth, by today’s standards, and shattering not only the oil-depletion myth but also pointing out to oil-rich regions in places devoid as prolific as before, because of belief of biogenic origin. Nikolai Alexandrovich Kudryavtsev (Kudryavtsev, 1951) was the first to start the theory of abiotic generation of hydrocarbons, in what has become the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of abyssal, abiotic petroleum (Kropotkin, 1986; Kenney et al., 2002). However, Abbas (1996) starts the history as early as 1877 by Mendeleev and provides a good overview as well as pros and cons about the two points of view.

In principle, the abiotic theory states that under high pressures (less than 5000 bar) and high temperatures (between 500 and 1500 °C ) methane could be formed from reduced carbon resulted from calcite. The process has been supported theoretically, via thermodynamic analysis, and experimentally (Kenney et al., 2002). Methane may also be formed from volatile rich fluids resulting from partial melting of rocks within Earth’s interior (National Academy Press, 2007). Thermodynamics indicate that at 1300 K, CO2 and CO should be the predominant carbon rich gases, while at lower temperatures CH4 should be predominant (Eugster and Skippen, 1967), with Symmonds et al., (1994) supporting the first argument by measurements.

Strong support for this hypothesis is the fact that methane and hydrocarbons are abundant in the outer solar system (Gold, 1979, 1984, 1985, 1993). There is reported evidence of abiotic formation of complex organics from methane in Saturn’s satellite Titan’s atmosphere (National Academy Press, 2007), although it is stated that there may be no connection to primitive Earth, because at the low surface temperature of Titan (at 46 K) all water is turned into ice. Methane, ethane and acetylene have also been discovered in Comet C/1996 B2 Hyakutake (Mumma et al., 1996). The finding of very deep gas reservoirs, down to almost 10000 m, with extremely high success rates of more than 55%, has also been reported as evidence of abiotic generation of hydrocarbons (Corsi, 2005). Very recent works (Cathcart, 2007; Paropkari, 2008) have been suggesting that we should be rethinking about oil exploration strategies in view of the substantial evidence about abiotic hydrocarbon origin.

Kenney et al. (2002) analyzed theoretically, via thermodynamic computations, the possibilities for hydrocarbon generation at high pressures and temperatures and showed that it is possible. They went on and performed successful experiments, using a specially built high pressure apparatus (Nikolaev and Shalimov, 1999) at pressures of 50 kbar, temperatures to 1500 °C . Using only as reagents solid iron oxide and 99.9% pure marble, wet with triple distilled water, they were able to generate methane. They reported that at pressures lower than 10 kbar only methane was formed while at pressures greater than 30 kbar a multi-component hydrocarbon mixture was formed including methane, ethane, propane, n-alkanes as well as alkenes, in distributions characteristic of natural petroleum.

Scott et al. (2004) have also reported in situ observations of hydrocarbon generation via carbonate reduction at upper mantle temperatures and pressures, forming methane from FeO, CaCO3-calcite and water at temperatures ranging between 500 and 1500 °C and pressures between 50 and 110 kbar. The authors were confident of the abiogenic theory of hydrocarbon generation thus concluding that Earth’s hydrocarbon budget is much larger than it is currently thought.

Petroleum generation under hydrothermal conditions, with certain metals or alloys used as catalysts, has been amply demonstrated at lower temperatures and pressures. For e.g. Horita and Bernt (1999) used a nickel-iron alloy, similar to what could be found within Earth’s crust, to catalyze the slow, under other conditions, reaction of methane generation from dissolved bicarbonate, under hydrothermal conditions at 200 and 400 °C and 500 bar. Without the catalyst, no methane was formed, concluding that abiogenic methane may be more widespread than originally thought.

Proskurowski et al. (2008) suggested, through analysis of components in hydrothermal oceanic vents that abiotic synthesis in nature of hydrocarbon fluids may occur in the presence of ultramafic rocks (which comprise mostly Earth’s mantle), water and moderate amounts of heat. On the other hand, Konn et al. (2008) analyzing data from same and other vents did not find conclusive evidence of the fact. He noted that, although amounts of hydrocarbons attributed to abiogenic origin were found, their signature has been difficult to characterize owing to the abundance of biogenic material. This is not far from the findings of Robinson (1963) who had noted at the time that the observed petroleum composition cannot really be attributed to biological origin, suggesting a primordial mixture to which bioproducts have been added. Ji et al. (2008) also presented results of generating a range of alcanes up to pentane, not only methane, from CO2 and H2 in hydrothermal conditions with cobalt as catalyst at 300 °C and pressures as low as 300 bar.

Szatmari (1989) suggested the hypothesis of petroleum formation by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, which is distinct from the organic and the inorganic coming from degassing theory of Gold. Foustoukos and Seyfried (2004) also demonstrated the acceleration of hydrocarbon production from CO2 and H2 with the Fischer-Tropsch reaction, using chromium and iron bearing minerals as catalysts, at 390 °C and 450 bars. Recent reports (Sherwood-Lollard et al., 2002) have identified traces of abiotically derived hydrocarbons in Kidd Creek hard rock mines. In the laboratory, abiotic synthesis of more complex organic compounds has been reported in aqueous media (McCollom et al., 1999).

Glasby (2006) gives a historical overview on the origin of hydrocarbons. He dismisses both the Russian-Ukrainian theory and the theory of gas degassing by Gold, as being non thermodynamically sound. He does not discuss, however, the Fischer-Tropsch type of reactions, pointed out above. Hence, his work serves as a very good reference, but to the author’s opinion, the final arguments are not as strong as they should have been. Interesting to note that he dismisses the Ukrainian theory on the basis of better evidence for the origin of higher hydrocarbons from organic matter, using better techniques, and noting that the theory is even forgotten in Ukraine, which is not true, as it has been recently demonstrated (Kutcherov, 2007; Kitchka, 2007).

Source:

V.C. Kelessidis. Challenges for very deep oil and gas drilling - will there ever be a depth limit? 3rd AMIREG International Conference (2009): Assessing the Footprint of 220 Resource Utilization and Hazardous Waste Management, Athens, Greece

Of the modern theory

In the 50's and 60's. XX century. in the USSR (NA Kudryavtsev, VB porphyry, N. Dolenko etc.) and abroad (the British scientist F. Hoyle and others) revived the various hypotheses of the inorganic (cosmic, volcanic, magmatic) origin of oil . However, in the 6th (1963), 7th (1967) and 8th (1971) International Oil Congress inorganic hypotheses were not supported.

Important for understanding the genesis of oil was to establish in the late XIX - early XX centuries. optical activity of oil, as well as close ties with oil sapropelic organic matter in sedimentary rocks. Sapropelic conjecture first German botanist G. Potonié in 1904-05, further developed by Russian and Soviet scientists - N. Andrusov, Vernadsky, IM Gubkin, ND Zelinsky and others. Sapropelic hypothesis assimilated by the modern theory of the migration of sedimentary origin of oil. Development of ideas about the nature of oil and the conditions of formation of its deposits also contributed works of the German scientist K. Engler, American geologist J. Newberry, E. Orton, D. White, Russian and Soviet scientists - GP Michael, DV Golubyatnikova, MV Abramovich, KI Bogdanovich and others.

This period is characterized by the study of oil have broad geological and geochemical studies aimed at addressing the problem of oil generation and organically related issues oil source sediments. In the USSR, such work performed by AD Archangel in 1925-26. In the U.S., a similar study started in 1926 P. Trask. In 1932 he published a classic work Gubkin "Studies on oil," which played a huge role in the development of ideas about the genesis and formation of its oil deposits. In 1934, in the oil, asphalt and coal deposits were found porphyrins belonging to a molecule of chlorophyll and other natural pigments.

But entirely inorganic theory of the origin of oil is not rejected. There are attempts to combine the organic and non-organic theory of the origin of oil: on the one hand, the radioactive decay in the core hydrogen is formed, which reacts with carbon to form oil-like substance, on the other hand, there are oil biomarkers - compounds definitely organic, with encountered by the "inorganic" oil.

Vitaly Rafailovich Flid, head of the Physical Chemistry of the Moscow Academy of Fine Chemical Technology. Moscow State University, Doctor of Sciences in 2011 [3] stated: "In a few countries - the U.S., Japan, we Troitsk - built systems for simulation of hydrocarbon generation of carbonate and water in the presence of ferrous iron. If you mix calcium carbonate or magnesium salt solution of iron and heated at high pressure, then, as shown in our study, is reliably produced hydrocarbons. At least methane. The gas from the depths of the earth through the channels in the rocks come to the surface facing undergoing different reactions to form heavier hydrocarbons. That is oil. This is the way of formation of mineral oil. Geologists say that there are oil fields, which were completely exhausted, and then the oil they appeared again. Perhaps, this is the oil from the depths of the Earth, which is unlikely to ever end.

Background on the modern theory

Milestones in the long process of scientific solution of the question of the origin of oil identified by Russian scientists. For the first time in 1763 Lomonosov suggested origin of oil from plant residues undergoing carbonization and pressure in the Earth's layers. These ideas are far ahead of University scientific thought of the time, look for the source of oil of inanimate nature.

In 1866, French chemist M. Berthelot suggested that oil is formed in the bowels of the earth under the influence of carbon dioxide on alkali metals. In 1871, French chemist H. Biasson proposed the idea of the origin of oil, by the interaction of water, CO2, H2S with a hot iron.

In 1892, Vladimir Sokolov stated hypothesis of cosmic origin of oil. Under this hypothesis, the raw material for the emergence of petroleum hydrocarbons were contained in the gaseous envelope of the Earth even during her star status. As the cooling of the Earth absorb hydrocarbons molten magma. Then, with the formation of the earth's crust, the hydrocarbons penetrated the sedimentary rocks in the gas phase, condensed and formed oil. [1]

Mendeleev, who shared the first idea of organic origin, was inclined to believe its origins as a result of reactions occurring in deep water at high temperatures and pressures between the metal carbide and water seeping from the ground. [1] The hypothesis of Mendeleev on the origin of oil from inorganic matter is now only of historical interest.

Soviet scientists Vernadsky been proven exceptional ability of organisms that inhabit our planet, to concentrate in the lithosphere huge carbon stores and the enormous role of the latter in the geological processes. Soviet scientist ND Zelinsky showed that some carbon compounds that make up plants and animals at low temperature and under appropriate conditions can form products, it is similar to the oil on the chemical composition and physical properties. A new stage in the development of the origin of oil was discovered by Soviet scientist T. Ginzburg-Karagicheva in waters Bibi Eybat and Surakhani (Baku) at a depth of 2000 m of living bacteria promoting sulfate reduction. This led to the idea of the great role of microorganisms in the fate of the buried organic matter and oil formed from it. Later, these microorganisms were found in the oil fields of the United States.

Laboratory studies have shown that under the action of the organic matter of gamma radiation produced hydrocarbons with the release of free hydrogen. Thus, the presence of radioactive decay in rocks may lead to the formation of free hydrogen for hydrogenation processes in nature. However, the role of ionizing radiation in the origin of oil still not clear. Soviet geologist IM Gubkin, summarizing the results of studies of the nature of oil, came to the conclusion that the process of its formation is continuous and can not be separated from the processes of formation of deposits in the earth of mineral matter on the scale of clusters. Most favorable for the formation of oil are unstable in the last parts of the earth's crust at the boundary of subsidence and uplift. Strong erosion of land in these areas contributed to the rapid accumulation of rainfall, and hence burial of organic material and lowering it into all the deeper zones of the crust. This is accompanied by a lowering of the growth temperature and increasing pressure, facilitate the process of oil and gas formation, aided and activity of anaerobic bacteria buried. In the areas of the Earth's crust dives under certain conditions, could be deposited layers containing large amounts of organic material, which then became part of the oil-producing and oil source rock. In advanced ridges and troughs in geosynclines all geological ages to create favorable conditions for the formation of oil pools where plant and animal remains, mostly plankton, mixed with inorganic substances, marked the beginning of the formation of rocks, then gave oil. High content of organic material characterized by clay and silt sediments that fill the cavities of the seabed, where the water does not mix any waves or ocean currents and where, consequently, the conditions reducing environment favorable to the preservation of organic material and its subsequent changes and the gradual transformation of the oil.

Oil origin

Oil - the result lithogenesis. It is a liquid (basically) a hydrophobic phase products fossilization (disposal) of organic matter (kerogen) in the water-sediment in anoxic conditions.

Oil formation - the step-wise, very long (typically 50-350 Ma) [1], a process that begins as early as living matter. Highlighted a number of stages:
Sedimentation - in which the remains of living organisms fall to the bottom of the basins;
Biochemical - compaction process, dehydration and biochemical processes with limited access to oxygen;
protokatagenez - lower layer of organic residues to a depth of 1.5 - 2 km, the slow rise of temperature and pressure;
mezokatagenez or main phase of oil generation (GFN) - lower layer of organic residues to a depth of 3 - 4 km, when the temperature rises to 150 ° C. In this case, the organic substances undergo catalytic thermal decomposition, resulting in formation of bituminous substances that make up the bulk of mikronefti. Further there is a distillation of the oil due to the pressure difference and stem emigration mikronefti in sand reservoirs, and on them in the trap;
apokatagenez kerogen or main phase of gas generation (GFG) - lower layer of organic residues to a depth of 4.5 km, with the rise in temperature to 180-250 ° C. In this organic matter becomes neftegeneriruyuschy metanogeneriruyuschy potential and realize potential.
IM Gubkin also singled stage destruction of oil mestozarozhdeny.

Strong evidence of the biogenic nature of the parent substance of oil were obtained from a detailed study of the evolution of the molecular composition of hydrocarbons and their biochemical precursors (progenitors) in the source organisms, organic matter and sediments and rocks in various oil from reservoirs. Important was the discovery of oil in the hemofossily - a very unique and often complex molecular designs clearly biogenic nature, that is inherited (in whole or in fragments) of organic matter. Study of the distribution of stable isotopes of carbon (12C, 13C) in the oil, organic matter of rocks and organisms (Vinogradov, EM Galimov) [2] also confirmed ineligibility inorganic hypotheses.


 It is believed that the main source of oil is usually a matter of zooplankton and algae, providing the greatest bio-products in water and the accumulation of organic matter in the sediments of sapropelic type, characterized by a high content of hydrogen (due to the presence of aliphatic and alicyclic kerogen molecular structures).

In ancient times there were warm, nutrient-rich seas, such as the Gulf of Mexico and the ancient Tethys Ocean, where a large amount of organic material falls to the bottom of the ocean, higher than the rate at which it could decompose. As a result of large masses of organic material were buried under subsequent deposits such as shale or salt. This is confirmed by the presence of a thick layer of salt over the oil fields in the Middle East. The formation of salt deposits suggests that these waters for a long time were quite small, poorly communicated to the rest of the ocean and evaporation greatly exceeds that of the sea water from the outside. Subsequently, the band were on the ground as a result of the movement of continents. Conditions are quite unique, so most of the modern organic sediments on the bottom of the ocean waiting for a different fate - the motion of the oceanic crust, they fall into the subduction zone.

Rocks formed from sediments that contain this type of organic matter, potentially oil source. Most often it is clay, at least - carbonate and sandstone-siltstone rocks that during immersion reach the upper half of the zone mezokatageneza which comes into force the main factor of oil generation - long heating of organic matter at temperatures of 50 ° C and above. The upper boundary of the main zone of oil formation located at depths of 1.3-1.7 km (with an average geothermal gradient 4 ° C/100 m) to 2.7-3 km (with a gradient of 2 ° C/100 m) and fixed by changing degree of coalification lignite coal organic matter. Main phase of oil generation confined to the area where coalification of organic matter reaches a degree corresponding coals Mark G. This phase is characterized by a significant increase in thermal and (or) thermal catalytic decomposition polimerlipoidnyh and other components of kerogen. Produced in large quantities petroleum hydrocarbons, including low molecular weight (C5-C15), almost absent in the earlier stages of the transformation of organic matter. These hydrocarbons, giving rise to the gasoline and kerosene fractions of oil, significantly increase the mobility mikronefti. At the same time, due to a decrease of the sorption capacity of source rocks, increasing the internal pressure in them and the allocation of water in the dehydration of clay increases the movement in the coming mikronefti collectors. When migrating to a collector in the trap oil always rises, so its maximum reserves are located at depths of several smaller than the display area of the main phase of oil generation, the lower boundary of which usually corresponds to the zone where the organic matter reaches the degree of coalification rocks, typical coking coals. Depending on the intensity and duration of heating, this boundary is at a depth of (meaning the maximum depth for the entire geological history of this series of sediment) from 3-3.5 to 5-6 km.

Petroleum geology

Enclosing rocks of oil have relatively high porosity and sufficient to eject permeability. Breed, allowing free movement and accumulation in these fluids are called collectors. Porosity depends on all sorted grains, their shape and styling, as well as on the presence of cement. Permeability determined by the size of pores and their communicability. The most important oil reservoirs are sands, sandstones, conglomerates, dolomite, limestone, and other well-permeable rocks, prisoners of impermeable rocks such as clay or plaster. Under favorable conditions, the collectors may be fractured metamorphic and igneous rocks that are in the vicinity of the oil-bearing sedimentary rocks.

Often the oil reservoir is only part of the reservoir and therefore, depending on the nature and degree of cementation porosity rocks (reservoir heterogeneity) found varying degrees of oil saturation in some segments within the reservoir itself. Sometimes this is due to the presence of the cause of non-productive areas of the reservoir. Usually oil deposits accompanied with water, which limits the accumulation downdip layers or along its base. In addition, each oil reserves with it is so-called. film or residual water enveloping the rock particles (sand) and the pore walls. In the case of reservoir rock pinching or cutting his faults, thrusts and t n disjunctive dislocations can deposit either in whole or in part beyond low permeable rocks. In the upper parts of the oil column is sometimes concentrated gas (so-called. "Gas cap"). Well production rate, in addition to the physical properties of the reservoir, its capacity and saturation, determined by the pressure of the dissolved gas in oil and boundary waters. In oil wells can not entirely remove all the oil from the reservoir, a significant amount of it remains in the depths of the earth's crust (see oil recovery and oil production). For a more complete extraction of oil using special techniques, of which the importance is the method of flooding (aquifer, vnutrikonturnogo, focal). Oil in the reservoir is under pressure (elastic expansion and / or the edge of the water and / or gas, as well as dissolved gas cap) so that the opening of the reservoir, especially the first well, accompanied by the risk gazonefteproyavleny (very rare Fountains discharges of oil). Very long time (from the 2nd half of the XIX century.) Geologists believe that the oil fields are timed almost exclusively to the saddle, and only in 1911, IM Gubkin was opened in Maikop's a new type of deposit, marking the alluvial sands and received the name "sleeve-." After more than 10 years, similar deposits have been discovered in the United States. Further development of the exploration in the USSR and the United States completed the discovery of deposits associated with the salt domes, raised, and sometimes poke through the sedimentary strata. The study of oil fields showed that the formation of oil deposits due to different structural forms bends strata stratigraphic relationships and lithological features suites of rocks. Proposed several classifications of fields and oil deposits in Russia and abroad. Oil fields differ from each other by the type of structural forms and conditions of their formation. And oil and gas are different from each other according to the forms of traps, reservoirs and educational conditions in which concentrations of oil.

Oil properties

Physical properties

Oil - the liquid from light brown (almost colorless) to dark brown (almost black) color (even though there are examples of emerald-green oil). The average molecular weight of 220-300 g / mol (rare 450-470). Density 0,65-1,05 (0,82-0,95 usually) g / cm ³; oil whose density is lower than 0.83, is called light, 0,831-0,860 - average above .860 - heavy. The density of oil, as well as other hydrocarbons, is strongly dependent on temperature and pressure [9]. It contains a large number of different organic substances and therefore not characterized by a boiling point, and the initial boiling point of liquid hydrocarbons (typically> 28 ° C, at least ≥ 100 ° C in the case of heavy oils) and fractional composition - Out separate fractions, distilled first at atmospheric pressure and then under vacuum in certain temperature range, usually up to 450-500 ° C (boiling over ~ 80% of the sample), at least 560-580 ° C (90-95%). The crystallization temperature of -60 to + 30 ° C; depends primarily on the content of petroleum wax (what it is, the higher the crystallization temperature) and light fractions (the more, the lower the temperature.) Viscosity varies widely (from 1.98 to 265.90 mm ² / s for various oil produced in Russia), determined the fractional composition of oil and its temperature (the higher and higher the number of light ends, the lower the viscosity), and content of resin-asphaltene substances (the more, the viscosity of the above). Specific heat capacity of 1.7-2.1 kJ / (kg ∙ K), specific heat (low) 43,7-46,2 MJ / kg, the dielectric constant of 2.0-2.5, the electric conductivity of the [specific] from 2 ∙ 10-10 to 0,3 ∙ 10-18 ohm-1 ∙ cm-1.

Oil - a flammable liquid, the flash point of - 35 [10] to +121 ° C (depending on the fractional composition and its content of dissolved gases). Oil soluble in organic solvents, in normal circumstances, is insoluble in water, but it can form stable emulsions. The technology to separate oil from water and dissolved salts conduct dehydration and desalting.
The chemical composition
Main article: List of crude oil products

The overall composition

Petroleum is a mixture of about 1,000 individual substances of which the majority - liquids (> 500 substances or usually 80-90% by weight) and heteroatomic organic compounds (4-5%), mainly sulfur (about 250 agents), nitrogen (> 30 substances) and oxygen (85 substances), and organometallic compounds (mainly vanadium and nickel), and the remaining components - dissolved hydrocarbon gases (C1-C4, from tenths to 4%), water (from trace to 10% ), mineral salts (mainly chlorides, 0,1-4000 mg / l or more), solutions of salts of organic acids, etc., mechanical impurities.

hydrocarbon composition

Basically in paraffin oil are (usually 30-35, sometimes 40-50% by volume) and naphthenic (25-75%). To a lesser extent - aromatic compounds (10-20, at least 35%) and mixed or hybrid, structure (eg, paraffin-naphthenic, naphthene-aromatic).

Oil

Natural oil oily flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons and other organic compounds. In color, the oil is red-brown, sometimes almost black in color, although sometimes there and poorly painted in yellow-green color and even colorless oil, has a peculiar smell, common in sedimentary rocks of the Earth. Today, oil is one of the most important minerals for mankind.

Overview

Oil is found together with gaseous hydrocarbons at depths of tens of meters to 5-6 km. However, at depths greater than 4.5-5 km dominated by gas and gas condensate reservoirs with a minor amount of light fractions. The maximum number of oil deposits located at a depth of 1-3 km. At shallow depths and natural outcrops on surface oil is converted into a thick Malta, semisolid asphalt and other education - such as tar sands and bitumen.

Chemical composition and origin of oil is close to natural gas fuel, ozokerite and asphalt. These resources are collectively called petrolytes. Petrolytes referred to even larger group of so-called caustobioliths - combustible biogenic minerals, which also includes solid fossil fuels.
Origin
Main article: Origin of oil

Oil - the result lithogenesis. It is a liquid (basically) a hydrophobic phase products fossilization (disposal) of organic matter (kerogen) in the water-sediment.

Oil formation - the step-wise, very long (typically 50-350 Ma) [6], a process that begins as early as living matter. Highlighted a number of stages:
Sedimentation - in which the remains of living organisms fall to the bottom of the basins;
Biochemical - compaction process, dehydration and biochemical processes with limited access to oxygen;
protokatagenez - lower layer of organic residues to a depth of 1.5-2 km, with a slow rise in temperature and pressure;
mezokatagenez or main phase of oil generation (GFN) - lower layer of organic residues to a depth of 3-4 km, with the rise in temperature to 150 ° C. In this case, the organic substances undergo catalytic thermal decomposition, resulting in formation of bituminous substances that make up the bulk of mikronefti. Further there is a distillation of the oil due to the pressure difference and stem emigration mikronefti in sand reservoirs, and on them in the trap;
apokatagenez kerogen or main phase of gas generation (GFG) - lower layer of organic residues to a depth of 4.5 km, with the rise in temperature to 180-250 ° C. In this organic matter becomes neftegeneriruyuschy metanogeneriruyuschy potential and realize potential.
IM Gubkin also singled stage destruction of oil mestozarozhdeny.

Strong evidence of the biogenic nature of the parent substance of oil were obtained from a detailed study of the evolution of the molecular composition of hydrocarbons and their biochemical precursors (progenitors) in the source organisms, organic matter and sediments and rocks in various oil from reservoirs. Important was the discovery of oil in the hemofossily - a very unique and often complex molecular designs clearly biogenic nature, that is inherited (in whole or in fragments) of organic matter. Study of the distribution of stable isotopes of carbon (12C, 13C) in the oil, organic matter of rocks and organisms (Vinogradov, EM Galimov) [7] also confirmed ineligibility inorganic hypotheses.

However, in the present, some scientists (mainly in Russia) advocate inorganic hypothesis of the origin of oil. In particular, it is argued that the newly formed in ancient times by organic oil is constantly added oil, which is formed by inorganic. If this is true, it means almost inexhaustible reserves of oil.