Posted on 05/26/2004 2:21:04 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
About 80 miles off of the coast of Louisiana lies a mostly submerged mountain, the top of which is known as Eugene Island. The portion underwater is an eerie-looking, sloping tower jutting up from the depths of the Gulf of Mexico, with deep fissures and perpendicular faults which spontaneously spew natural gas. A significant reservoir of crude oil was discovered nearby in the late '60s, and by 1970, a platform named Eugene 330 was busily producing about 15,000 barrels a day of high-quality crude oil.
By the late '80s, the platform's production had slipped to less than 4,000 barrels per day, and was considered pumped out. Done. Suddenly, in 1990, production soared back to 15,000 barrels a day, and the reserves which had been estimated at 60 million barrels in the '70s, were recalculated at 400 million barrels. Interestingly, the measured geological age of the new oil was quantifiably different than the oil pumped in the '70s.
Analysis of seismic recordings revealed the presence of a "deep fault" at the base of the Eugene Island reservoir which was gushing up a river of oil from some deeper and previously unknown source.
Similar results were seen at other Gulf of Mexico oil wells. Similar results were found in the Cook Inlet oil fields in Alaska. Similar results were found in oil fields in Uzbekistan. Similarly in the Middle East, where oil exploration and extraction have been underway for at least the last 20 years, known reserves have doubled. Currently there are somewhere in the neighborhood of 680 billion barrels of Middle East reserve oil.
Creating that much oil would take a big pile of dead dinosaurs and fermenting prehistoric plants. Could there be another source for crude oil?
An intriguing theory now permeating oil company research staffs suggests that crude oil may actually be a natural inorganic product, not a stepchild of unfathomable time and organic degradation. The theory suggests there may be huge, yet-to-be-discovered reserves of oil at depths that dwarf current world estimates.
The theory is simple: Crude oil forms as a natural inorganic process which occurs between the mantle and the crust, somewhere between 5 and 20 miles deep. The proposed mechanism is as follows:
There are a number of observations across the oil-producing regions of the globe that support this theory, and the list of proponents begins with Mendelev (who created the periodic table of elements) and includes Dr.Thomas Gold (founding director of Cornell University Center for Radiophysics and Space Research) and Dr. J.F. Kenney of Gas Resources Corporations, Houston, Texas.
In his 1999 book, "The Deep Hot Biospere," Dr. Gold presents compelling evidence for inorganic oil formation. He notes that geologic structures where oil is found all correspond to "deep earth" formations, not the haphazard depositions we find with sedimentary rock, associated fossils or even current surface life.
He also notes that oil extracted from varying depths from the same oil field have the same chemistry – oil chemistry does not vary as fossils vary with increasing depth. Also interesting is the fact that oil is found in huge quantities among geographic formations where assays of prehistoric life are not sufficient to produce the existing reservoirs of oil. Where then did it come from?
Another interesting fact is that every oil field throughout the world has outgassing helium. Helium is so often present in oil fields that helium detectors are used as oil-prospecting tools. Helium is an inert gas known to be a fundamental product of the radiological decay or uranium and thorium, identified in quantity at great depths below the surface of the earth, 200 and more miles below. It is not found in meaningful quantities in areas that are not producing methane, oil or natural gas. It is not a member of the dozen or so common elements associated with life. It is found throughout the solar system as a thoroughly inorganic product.
Even more intriguing is evidence that several oil reservoirs around the globe are refilling themselves, such as the Eugene Island reservoir – not from the sides, as would be expected from cocurrent organic reservoirs, but from the bottom up.
Dr. Gold strongly believes that oil is a "renewable, primordial soup continually manufactured by the Earth under ultrahot conditions and tremendous pressures. As this substance migrates toward the surface, it is attached by bacteria, making it appear to have an organic origin dating back to the dinosaurs."
Smaller oil companies and innovative teams are using this theory to justify deep oil drilling in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico, among other locations, with some success. Dr. Kenney is on record predicting that parts of Siberia contain a deep reservoir of oil equal to or exceeding that already discovered in the Middle East.
Could this be true?
In August 2002, in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (US)," Dr. Kenney published a paper, which had a partial title of "The genesis of hydrocarbons and the origin of petroleum." Dr. Kenney and three Russian coauthors conclude:
The Hydrogen-Carbon system does not spontaneously evolve hydrocarbons at pressures less than 30 Kbar, even in the most favorable environment. The H-C system evolves hydrocarbons under pressures found in the mantle of the Earth and at temperatures consistent with that environment.
He was quoted as stating that "competent physicists, chemists, chemical engineers and men knowledgeable of thermodynamics have known that natural petroleum does not evolve from biological materials since the last quarter of the 19th century."
Deeply entrenched in our culture is the belief that at some point in the relatively near future we will see the last working pump on the last functioning oil well screech and rattle, and that will be that. The end of the Age of Oil. And unless we find another source of cheap energy, the world will rapidly become a much darker and dangerous place.
If Dr. Gold and Dr. Kenney are correct, this "the end of the world as we know it" scenario simply won't happen. Think about it ... while not inexhaustible, deep Earth reserves of inorganic crude oil and commercially feasible extraction would provide the world with generations of low-cost fuel. Dr. Gold has been quoted saying that current worldwide reserves of crude oil could be off by a factor of over 100.
A Hedberg Conference, sponsored by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, was scheduled to discuss and publicly debate this issue. Papers were solicited from interested academics and professionals. The conference was scheduled to begin June 9, 2003, but was canceled at the last minute. A new date has yet to be set.
For over 30 years I've been saying that the earth is still making oil.
People saying these things need to be very careful. Powerful persons in this world have a huge vested interest in the "current fantasy" about oil coming from dinosaurs. You could end up int the foundation of a building for saying things like this.
of course it is: It comes from dead things. Things & people continue to DIE - - - Everyday.
My father was with Shell Oil Company. During the 60's a geologist with Shell determined that the gulf of Mexico had a 7000 year supply of crude & natural gas! ! !
I would love to read an article supporting this theory, from some source other than WorldNetDaily.
Anybody got a link?
The world has more oil not less
The Origin of Methane (and Oil) in the Crust of the Earth
Thomas Gold
U.S.G.S. Professional Paper 1570, The Future of Energy Gases, 1993
PETROLEUM RESERVES EVALUATED WITH MODERN PETROLEUM SCIENCE
Another Washington Post article here
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Crosslinking here: -Sticker Shock-$3 a gallon gas? Some links--
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"You could end up int the foundation of a building for saying things like this."
Call it Exxoncide.
See also referenced paper in PNAS
The reason given for not exploiting them was that he price of oil was too low (Mideast competition) to make it profitable.
Apparently the oil companies that have wells in the Gulf are waiting until the price is right to make them productive.
It is often said that below the Gulf there is plenty of oil but the price is too low to make going after it a good business venture.
Okay... There is still the possibility that consumption will outstrip (or has outstripped) production, regardless if the production is a byproduct of tectonic processes.
Ya but the eco-nuts say we cant drill it. They want Bush to loose, so they are for the high gas prices we are having now.
At least once a year, we make that long, boring drive from Dallas to El Paso to visit my in-laws. During our trip at Easter, I noticed that a vast majority of the wells from Midland to Monahans were in operation. This was in stark contrast to just a few years ago, when less than a quarter were pumping.
I'm not great at predicting things, but once the speculators decide to take their profits and wait for the next opportunity, oil prices will be back down in the low $30s per barrel.
Another good indicator of falling prices are the advertisements from commodity futures companies, "advising" investors to take advantage of the profit opportunities in gasoline prices.
The Saudis are right to be concerned: they've overplayed their hand in the past, and it resulted in oil at $10/bbl. Speculators don't care which way prices move, as long as they move precipitously.
Why pay currency to worker to pump oil for sale when they can produce less (blame it on a false reason such as a shortage), triple (or more) the price and rely on the gullibility of liberals and others to sell their product.
It all came from the big flood.
Recall a movie named "The Formula?"
bttt
I know this is probably silly--but would the naturally occuring change in the Earth's magnetic field--which scientists say is happening-- possibly have any effect on the seismic "shake-up" deep below the Earth's crust?
Thanks for posting this. Once upon a time, I studied petroleum geology... this is fascinating.
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