Eugene Island is an underwater mountain located about 80 miles
off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico. In 1973 oil was struck
and off-shore platform Eugene 330 erected. The field began production at
15,000 barrels a day, then gradually fell off, as is normal, to 4,000 barrels
a day in 1989, Then came the surprise; it reversed itself and increased
production to 13,000 barrels a day. Probable reserves have been increased
to 400 million barrels from 60 million. The field appears to be filling
from below and the crude coming up today is from a geological age different
from the original crude, which leads to the speculation that the world has
limitless supplies of petroleum.
This really interested some scientists. Thomas Gold, astronomer
and professor emeritus of Cornell held for years that oil is actually renewable
primordial syrup continually manufactured by the earth under ultra hot conditions
and tremendous pressures. This substance migrates upward picking up bacteria
that attack it making it appear to have an organic origin, i.e., come from
dinosaurs and vegetation. As best I have found so far Russian scientists
support his position, at least that petroleum is of primordial origin. There
is now plenty of evidence around proving the presence of methane in our
universe. It is easy to see it as a part of the formation of the earth.
Under the right conditions of temperature and pressure, it converts to more
complex hydrocarbons.
Roger Andersen, an oceanographer and executive director of
Columbia’s Energy Research Center proposed studying the behavior of
this reservoir. The underwater landscape around Eugene Island is weird,
cut with faults and fissures that belch gas and oil. The field is operated
by PennzEnergy Co. Andersen proposed to study the action of the sea bottom
around the mountain and the field at its top and persuaded the U S Dept
of Energy to ante up ten million which was matched by a consortium of oil
giants including Chevron, Exxon, and Tex Corp. This work began about the
time 3-D seismic technology was introduced to oil exploration. Anderson
was able to stack 3D images resulting in a 4D image that showed the reservoir
in 3 spatial dimensions and enabled researchers to track the movement of
oil. Their most stunning find was a deep fault at a bottom corner of the
computer scan that showed oil literally gushing in. "We could see the
stream," says Andersen. "It wasn’t even debated that it
was happening."
Work continued for five years until funds ran out and they
were unable to continue. With the world having 40 years of proven reserves
in hand it is difficult to interest the major oil producers in much exploration,
let alone something done merely for research, and so far from the current
accepted theory of a fossil origin for oil.
Similar occurrences have been seen at other Gulf Of Mexico
fields, at the Cook Inlet oil field, at oil fields in Uzbekistan, and it
is possible this accounts for the longevity of the Saudi Arabian fields
where few new finds have been made, yet reserves have doubled while the
fields have been exploited mercilessly for 50 years.
Not only can the doom and gloomers not show us running out
of the natural resources we recycle, but now there appears to be good odds
of a limitless supply of petroleum working its way up to where we can capture
it.
A caveat: Gold’s theory is not yet accepted by all scientists,
probably all the more reason to trust it.
April 6, 2005
George Crispin [crispin73@charter.netl]
is a retired businessman who heads a Catholic homeschooling cooperative
in Auburn, Alabama.
All information posted on this web site is
the opinion of the author and is provided for educational purposes only.
It is not to be construed as medical advice. Only a licensed medical doctor
can legally offer medical advice in the United States. Consult the healer
of your choice for medical care and advice.