Years ago I read in an article in which an man said that if you dig a hole deep enough, you can find oil anywhere. I'm sorry I don't remember the man's name, but this is an interesting article, and it seems to match the man's theory somewhat.He's probably right, the problem is how deep and what kind of oil.
The problem is the middle east has light sweet crude practically bubbling up out of the ground.
This makes it commercially unfeasable to make a Journey to the Center of the Earth with the hopes of scoring some sour crude that has to be heated to 200deg F just to flow.
That guys name is Dr. Thomas Gold and he is a bigger fraud than Dan Rather. Gold is an astrophysicist who believes that most of the hydrocarbons found in the earth's crust come from degassing of the mantle (i.e inorganic methane left over from the formation of the solar system.) He actually conned some Scandinavian country to drill a well in an impact feature (Siljan(?) Ring) years ago and found next to nothing. The Russians then for years drilled a well so deep, they got to temperatures that would melt sulfur. I remember so tabloid headline from a bout 15 years ago about the Russians drilling into hell!
Natural gas and oil are the byproducts of the decay and catagenesis of organic matter - mostly planktonic debris - which settles into near anoxic condition at the bottom of oceans, seas, and large lakes. Coal was formed from woody debris buried in swamp-like settings.