Origins of Oil and the Abiotic Theory - Digital Download

by David Zebuhr

This 4-page paper was published in Issue 60 (2005).

From the Introduction: ...Despite the fact that petroleum is the lynchpin of modern society, there still remains great debate over the most fundamental questions: where does it come from, how much is there, what is its true cost, and when (if ever) will it run out?

...There is an alternative to the mainstream hypothesis of the origin of oil. Little known in the West, the modern Russian-Ukrainian theory of the deep, abiotic origin of petroleum offers a stark contrast to the one put forth by Lomonosov...The abiotic theory holds that oil (and natural gas) is derived from primordial hydrocarbons that reside in the upper mantle and lower crust of the earth...