Renewable Coal, Oil and Gas - Hydrocarbons of Geological Origin

Could oil and other hydrocarbons be a continuously produced natural geological resource that is - contrary to what we are being told - not running out any time soon?

Screen capture of a Powerpoint slide of projected oil production - Image credit: EV World

The question is not as far fetched as it might seem. One of the world’s leading advocates for the theory that hydrocarbons are renewable is Dr. Thomas Gold. He contends that oil is not a limited resource, and that oil, natural gas and coal, are not so-called “fossil fuels.”

In his book, The Deep Hot Biosphere: The Myth of Fossil Fuels, he explains that dinosaurs and plants and the fossils from those living beings are not the origin of oil and natural gas, but rather generated from a chemical substance in the crust of the Earth. Gold says:

“Astronomers have been able to find that hydrocarbons, as oil, gas and coal are called, occur on many other planetary bodies. They are a common substance in the universe. You find it in the kind of gas clouds that made systems like our solar system. You find large quantities of hydrocarbons in them. Is it reasonable to think that our little Earth, one of the planets, contains oil and gas for reasons that are all its own and that these other bodies have it because it was built into them when they were born? That question makes a lot of sense. After all, they didn’t have dinosaurs and ferns on Jupiter to produce oil and gas?”

The quote is from an article by Joel Bainerman who asks: If hydrocarbons are renewable- then is “Peak Oil” a fraud?

Alexander Alan Scarborough has formulated an Energy Fuels Theory, which makes a very similar argument. Scarborough explains:

The theory that fuels (gas, oil and coal) were made from fossils has gone unchallenged for almost 150 years. This fossil fuels theory (FFT) was formulated in the 1830’s on the basis of three observations common to 100 coal mines. During the 1920’s, the theory was enhanced by the concept of petroleum being created from marine organisms. Over the years, a significant amount of subtle, yet substantial evidence that argues against the validity of the FFT has accumulated in the literature.

These arguments have been condensed into six critical points that simultaneously render strong support to the new theory of fuels formation by natural laws of physics and chemistry. The new energy fuels theory (EFT) explains the formation of fuels (and all known matter) by the logical progression of the transformation of energy particles into atoms, into gaseous molecules, then into liquid and solids via molecular chain-building processes. The intimate relationships of gas, oil and coal, are illustrated by five facts that render additional strong support to the EFT. The immense ramifications of the new concept that appears destined to replace the FFT are briefly discussed.

Considering that the “peak oil” alarm was first sounded by a petroleum geologist working for one of the major oil producers, there is a good probability that indeed, as Bainerman suggests, the “peak oil” scare could be a scam designed to justify stratospheric profits of the oil majors. Peak oil, also sometimes called Hubbert’s peak, goes back to a prediction, first made in 1949 by M. King Hubbert, a geophysicist and Chief Consultant for the Exploration and Production Research Division of Shell, that oil production would continue to increase but would “peak” in about 1970 and decline thereafter.

While US oil production has indeed peaked at the predicted time, world production seems somewhat reluctant to follow suit. No wonder, if there is demand for hydrocarbons and if indeed oil is a renewable and constantly growing resource, as suggested by the Gold, Scarborough and others.