Science News

Fossils From Animals And Plants Are Not Necessary For Crude Oil And Natural Gas, Swedish Researchers Find

ScienceDaily (Sep. 12, 2009) — Researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm have managed to prove that fossils from animals and plants are not necessary for crude oil and natural gas to be generated. The findings are revolutionary since this means, on the one hand, that it will be much easier to find these sources of energy and, on the other hand, that they can be found all over the globe.

….According to Vladimir Kutcherov, the findings are a clear indication that the oil supply is not about to end, which researchers and experts in the field have long feared….

“There is no doubt that our research proves that crude oil and natural gas are generated without the involvement of fossils. All types of bedrock can serve as reservoirs of oil,” says Vladimir Kutcherov, who adds that this is true of land areas that have not yet been prospected for these energy sources….

([1] Full Story)

The claims made in the article perhaps do not match what you were taught in school.  Nevertheless, the hypothesis of abiogenic (non-fossil generated) petroleumhave been around for more than half a century.  Research relating to that was done primarily by Russian scientists, but the hypothesis has also been proposed by scientists in the West.

Read the [2] Wikipedia article on abiogenic petroleum origin.  That article contains the statement,

“This article may be inaccurate in or [3] unbalanced towards certain viewpoints. Please [4] improve the article by adding information on neglected viewpoints, or discuss the issue on the [5] talk page. (July 2009)

Do not let that put you off.  That statement is not being used persistently by Wikipedia throughout many of the articles it covers.  For instance, it is not used in the Wikipedia articles on [6] Climate change or [7] Global warming, two of many subject areas in which [8] the science is by no means settled and points — on the balance of the evidence — to the opposite of the politically-correct assertions.