[HKMk23]

Thomas Gold promoted the deep source theory of oil.

Good overview and some links here:
http://www.semp.us/biots/biot_182.html

[Old Student]

From a quick skim of the link you provided, he also seems to think that coal is produced in much the same way. My dad used to work in a coal mine, and brought us fossil ferns and such that he found in the shale above and below the coal seams.

I don't know about oil. I do know that coal could well be formed from great masses of vegetation compressed and heated over millennial. Not necessarily is, but certainly could be. I can see how oil could be squeezed out of such a mass, too. After all, there are commercial processes that do it now, and I've seen the same thing done in a lab. Heck, it's even possible both theories are right.