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:
Methane (CH4) is a common molecule found in quantity throughout
our solar system – huge concentrations exist at great depth in the
Earth.
At the mantle-crust interface, roughly 20,000 feet beneath
the surface, rapidly rising streams of compressed methane-based gasses hit
pockets of high temperature causing the condensation of heavier hydrocarbons.
The product of this condensation is commonly known as crude oil.
Some compressed methane-based gasses migrate into pockets
and reservoirs we extract as "natural gas."
In the geologically "cooler," more tectonically
stable regions around the globe, the crude oil pools into reservoirs.
In the "hotter," more volcanic and tectonically
active areas, the oil and natural gas continue to condense and eventually
to oxidize, producing carbon dioxide and steam, which exits from active
volcanoes.
Periodically, depending on variations of geology and Earth
movement, oil seeps to the surface in quantity, creating the vast oil-sand
deposits of Canada and Venezuela, or the continual seeps found beneath the
Gulf of Mexico and Uzbekistan.
Periodically, depending on variations of geology, the vast,
deep pools of oil break free and replenish existing known reserves of oil.
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 Biosphere," 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.
Chris Bennett manages an environmental engineering division
for a West Coast technology firm. He and his wife of 26 years make their
home on the San Francisco Bay.
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
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