[stemmer]

At least researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm think it maybe so....


http://www.kth.se/aktuellt/1.43372?l=en_uk

[stemmer]

A bit more on this topic...

Revolutionary discovery means world may not run out of crude
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/279153

[N_Fiddledog]

It's all pretty meaningless until they can take those theoretical principals out into the field and start consistently finding oil where it shouldn't be. If that should happen though the world will change.

[stemmer]

I understand scientists in Russia and Ukraine have been using the abiotic theory to find oil... Am I correct?

Thanks kindly

[BartSimpson]

The "Peak Oil" doomsayers are surely having conniptions over this.

[Lemmy]

Isn't it be BETTER for our planet if oil supply is running out? We'll never switch to cleaner and more efficient technologies without a need to do so. Necessity is, of course, the mother of invention.

[Zipperfish]

Abiotic oil theory has been around for a long time now. It was quite popular in Russia at one point. It has caught on in the west lately, I suppose for the same reason a career in Mary Kay cosmetics catches on whenever economic strife strikes--a bit of a measure of desperation; people looking for easy answers.

There's plenty of evidence that most oil is from a biological origin (optical chirality of molecules, other biomarkers). On the other hand there's not much doubt that hydrocarbons can and are created in various mantle processes. The biggest knock against abiotic oil is that it hasn't been located where it should be in any economically viable state or quantity.

There's no shortage of extraterrestial hydrocarbnons though--the atmosphere of Titan is almost all methane. Mind you, if you're going to go to that trouble, it would probably easier to collect solar energy from space and microwave it to earth.

[BartSimpson]

Zipperfish wrote:

There's no shortage of extraterrestial hydrocarbnons though--the atmosphere of Titan is almost all methane. Mind you, if you're going to go to that trouble, it would probably easier to collect solar energy from space and microwave it to earth.

The same used to be said of importing oil from the Middle East. It's just a matter of economical transportation and if hydrocarbons from Titan will enrich the likes of Exxon or Shell then I would expect to see supertankers flying to Titan in due time.

[Zipperfish]

BartSimpson wrote:

The same used to be said of importing oil from the Middle East. It's just a matter of economical transportation and if hydrocarbons from Titan will enrich the likes of Exxon or Shell then I would expect to see supertankers flying to Titan in due time.

The sooner the better, as far as I'm concerned!

[DerbyX]

Actually Zip, Titan is almost all Nitrogen with a little over 1% methane.

98.4% Nitrogen
1.6% Methane.

[BartSimpson]

DerbyX wrote:

Actually Zip, Titan is almost all Nitrogen with a little over 1% methane.

98.4% Nitrogen
1.6% Methane.

True. But the Cassini probe confirmed there are some vast surface lakes of liquid methane. While those resources may not be viable for use on earth, they would definitely be attractive for use in future space exploration.

[stemmer]

Lemmy wrote:

Isn't it be BETTER for our planet if oil supply is running out? We'll never switch to cleaner and more efficient technologies without a need to do so. Necessity is, of course, the mother of invention.

But we use oil for alot more stuff then fuel... It is used in the manufacture of plastics, fertilizers, asphalt, etc....

Besides isn't our Canadian loonie really a petrol dollar? What would happen if our oil based economies in ALberta and merging economies in Saskatchewan & Newfoundland were to collaspe?

[Lemmy]

stemmer wrote:

But we use oil for alot more stuff then fuel... It is used in the manufacture of plastics, fertilizers, asphalt, etc....

And if we don't burn it for energy, we'll have more to make plastics.

stemmer wrote:

Besides isn't our Canadian loonie really a petrol dollar? What would happen if our oil based economies in ALberta and merging economies in Saskatchewan & Newfoundland were to collaspe?

Our economy will, hopefully, benefit from being on the cutting edge of whatever energy source replaces petroleum. There will be lots of jobs for Albertans and Newfies in the NEW energy industry.

[Zipperfish]

BartSimpson wrote:

DerbyX wrote:

Actually Zip, Titan is almost all Nitrogen with a little over 1% methane.

98.4% Nitrogen
1.6% Methane.

True. But the Cassini probe confirmed there are some vast surface lakes of liquid methane. While those resources may not be viable for use on earth, they would definitely be attractive for use in future space exploration.

Thanks Bart--that's what I meant.

[sandorski]

If true, and it certainly could be, the idea that we need not worry about running out seems overstated. The rate such Oil is Naturally Produced would seem to indicate that we are using far more than is Naturally Produced(albeit we have no idea what that Rate is). From a practical point, this probably will only help us to form a Synthetic Process and that will probably make Oil as a Fuel unattractive for that reason alone.

If it can be produced Synthetically at a low enough Price, perhaps it might work as a Carbon Capture method. Although that opens many other variables that may not really help lower CO2.