[jonascord]

Research Abiogenic petroleum. The cast will introduce themselves. Thomas Gold, by the way.

It goes a long way toward explaining the difference between light, sweet crude and heavy, sour crude.

(It depends on the existing contaminants in the geologic trap the crude is found in.)

[stig]

Research Abiogenic petroleum

A quick google search turned up a bunch of references. Two that seemed interesting:

A scientific review of abiogenic theory in Reviews in Geophysics
Deep-seated abiogenic origin of petroleum: From geological assessment to physical theory

and a Forbes article from 2008 that mentions Thomas Gold by name and unnamed Russian and Ukrainian scientists that hold to the theory.
Endless Oil?

In a nutshell we find hydrocarbons in places we shouldn't based on a biomass theory.