Oil is the fuel basis of modern civilization. Products generated through recycling are used for heating, vehicle propulsion, road surfaces, polymer production, and a variety of other processes, each of which is an integral part of human life.

The problem of the exhaustibility of oil reserves has led to numerous scientific discussions about its origin and the substances involved in its formation. The need to explain the process of oil genesis has split the scientific community into two irreconcilable camps:

• supporters of the biogenic theory;
• adherents of the abiogenic path of education.

The abiogenic theory is considered more optimistic for humanity. Its supporters argue that the most common hydrocarbon on our planet is formed through the geological synthesis of its two inorganic components: hydrogen and carbon. Their connection is initiated by high pressure in underground strata, and occurs in periods measured in tens of thousands of years.

But even if this scenario is ever proven, it does not make the fate of the human race any simpler: the moment of the invention that formed the basis of the wheel and the creation of the first portable computer are separated by less than 5 thousand years. And for the formation of significant oil reservoirs, it takes no less than several tens, or even hundreds of thousands of years.

One of the eminent scientists who shared the theory is Mikhail Lomonosov. Along with our contemporaries, he believed that known oil reserves lying relatively close to the surface are only a microscopic part of planetary reserves.

Modern followers believe that oil formed in nature is not only a renewable resource, but also an almost inexhaustible resource for any volume of consumption.

One of the proofs of the possibility of oil synthesis in nature is the presence of hydrocarbons in the atmosphere of gas giant planets (in particular, Jupiter). This circumstance confirms the possibility of the formation of the simplest organic substances from natural inorganics.

Abiogenic theory: how is oil formed?

Adherents explain the origin of “black gold” as the result of processes of processing biomass - the remains of ancient plants and animals that existed on the planet millions of years ago. There is much more evidence than the opposite.

One of the first proofs was an experiment conducted by German naturalists at the end of the 19th century. Engler and Gefer took lipids of animal origin (oil isolated from cod liver) as the material basis for the experiment, and by exposing it to high temperatures and pressure many times higher than atmospheric pressure, they isolated light organic fractions from it.

There are many more experiments and laboratory studies that support this theory of oil formation in nature. Also, geological surveys and forecasting the occurrence of oil reservoirs are based exclusively on the provisions of this theory.

Unexplained Events

There are a number of deposits, the very fact of their existence refutes the main provisions of the abiogenic theory of the origin of oil in nature. These include:

• Tersko-Sunzhenskoe;
• Romashkinskoe;
• West Siberian oil and gas province.

At various times, inexplicable “replenishment” of oil was observed in these areas. The essence of the amazing events was that the available methods for analyzing the formations stated that they were exhausted, the wells showed an almost complete stop in oil production, however, after a few years, each one again showed the presence of oil available for production.

Geologists predicted production in the Romashkinskoye field of slightly more than 700 million tons of black gold, but during the Soviet period of oil production alone, at least 3 billion tons were extracted using a simple method.

The Tersko-Sunzhenskoye field was depleted by the beginning of World War II, when there had been no “gushing” oil production there for more than 10 years. However, after the end of the war, the explored wells allegedly received new reserves: production not only resumed, but began to exceed pre-war volumes by orders of magnitude.

A similar situation was observed in many fields of the USSR. Proponents of the inorganic formation of oil in nature easily explained these cases, pointing out that in these areas the hydrocarbons are of inorganic origin. Moreover, their formation is significantly catalyzed by the presence of heavy graphites in the depths of the earth and the flow of sedimentary waters, which, under the influence of colossal pressure, gives rise to the accelerated formation of oil.

According to scientists, a significant part of the territory of the West Siberian Plain was covered by the waters of the ancient sea. The natural origin of oil in this area is criticized and obstructed, but the mineral formation of methane, not caused by the processes of decay of organic matter, finds many supporters. Through a process called hydration, the iron salts reacted with seawater, producing the release of methane. It accumulated in natural reservoirs, remaining there even after the sea dried up and reaching the present day in its original form, naturally formed in nature.

Conclusions and forecasts

Whatever path of natural oil formation receives irrefutable evidence, it will help human civilization rather little. Human memory, archival recording of observations and scientific research hardly covers periods of hundreds or thousands of years, not to mention millions.

It is at least unreasonable to talk about the possible onset of a fuel crisis: humanity is rapidly developing alternative energy sources, replacing outdated technologies with new ones, and modernizing the processes of exploration and production of already known resources. None of the modern forecasts has a more stable basis than observation of nature and comparison of facts, analysis of observations and historical archives. To cover in one study all kinds of cases that fall outside the framework of one of the theories, compare them and bring them to a common denominator is an idea that is more ambitious than realistically achievable. Therefore, the question is: “How is oil formed in nature?” may remain open for a long time.

Until then, oil, the key fuel on our planet, will continue to remain the subject of scientific controversy and the source of numerous mysteries.

American researchers discovered microalgae, which gave rise to all current reserves of oil and coal. Experts from the USA are convinced that it was the microalgae they discovered that was the reason for the accumulation of these resources

A group of experts led by Professor Joe Chapel from the University of Kentucky in the USA found a microorganism that became the basis of absolutely all the coal and oil reserves on Earth. Now researchers are working on genetic modification of a newly discovered microorganism that can become a real source of fuel and solve all future energy problems of humanity.

Previously, scientists found that coal and oil were formed as a result of the vital activity of microorganisms that lived on Earth over 500 million years ago. And just recently, a team of American researchers found that just one organism was the most direct cause of the emergence and accumulation of these important natural resources. Experts have found that this is a microalgae called Botryococcus braunii, which has chemical “imprints” in all types of oil. Since oil eventually becomes coal over time, the algae B. braunii is also a source of this solid fuel.

“But what’s even more intriguing is that this amazing algae exists to this day and could well become a major research target for the large chemical and petrochemical industries,” says Joe Chapel.

Despite the obvious colossal “work” to form the current oil and coal reserves, B. braunii, alas, grows rather slowly, and therefore in its natural form it is not very suitable as a direct source for creating biofuel reserves. But experts can use B. braunii genes to create alternative microorganisms that may be capable of efficient and rapid biosynthesis of hydrocarbons.

Today there are already very successful examples of isolating the necessary genes, which are characterized by high biochemical activity, and forcibly introducing them into the yeast genome. As a result, generally unpretentious living sources of biofuels emerge, which in the future can become a renewable alternative to the classical method of oil production.

According to scientists, the use of B. braunii genes has enormous advantages, since this microorganism has a unique molecular mechanism for the production of hydrocarbons. And it must be said that no known bacterium is endowed with similar qualities, which, in general, is confirmed by the colossal reserves of coal and oil that B. braunii began to create many millions of years ago. According to experts, the transfer of unique genes from the alga Botryococcus braunii into a fast-growing and not very fastidious organism will make it possible to create inexpensive and highly efficient bioreactors that produce fuel.

Forecasts

It is believed that global economic growth, as well as a frosty winter in the northern hemisphere, will increase oil demand this year, which will exceed the expectations of many experts and business representatives. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reports this.

According to the agency's forecasts, oil demand should reach 89.1 million barrels per day, compared with 87.7 million barrels per day last year.

The IEA warns that today's elevated oil prices could trigger a slowdown in global economic recovery. In addition, the IEA advises that oil producers, investors, and consumers could suffer significantly if the price of oil remains at around $100 per barrel.

Will oil never run out?

Several decades ago, geologists believed that gas and oil reserves on Earth should have run out more than once. The latest data forces scientists to clarify that hydrocarbon reserves on our home planet will, in all likelihood, last for another half a century. We are, of course, talking about hydrocarbons of organic origin.

Meanwhile, recent experiments at the Institute of High Pressure Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the city of Troitsk have demonstrated that our Earth can produce oil and gas continuously. There is a lot of carbon in the upper mantle, Russian experts say, and it often comes to the surface - say, in the form of diamonds through kimberlite pipes.

As domestic scientists explain, in the bowels of the earth there is a constant transfer of mass and heat transfer. This means that the rocks and various substances that are present in the mantle of our planet are capable of inexhaustible reproduction of hydrocarbons, including oil.

You are probably familiar with the theory of the origin of coal. The point of view on this matter is well-established: it was formed (and continues to form) from the remains of lush evergreen vegetation that once covered the entire planet, including even the current permafrost areas, and brought from above by ordinary rocks, under the influence of subsoil pressure and with a lack of oxygen.

It is logical to assume that the oil was made according to a similar recipe in the same kitchen of nature. By the 19th century, the debate largely centered on the question of what served as the starting material for the formation of oil: plant or animal remains?

In 1888, German scientists G. Gefer and K. Engler conducted experiments on the distillation of fish oil at a temperature of 400 C and a pressure of about 1 MPa. They managed to obtain saturated hydrocarbons, paraffin, and lubricating oils, which included alkenes, naphthenes and arenes.

Later, in 1919, Academician N.D. Zelinsky conducted a similar experiment, but the starting material was organic sludge of plant origin - sapropel - from Lake Balshakh. When processing it, it was possible to obtain gasoline, kerosene, heavy oils, as well as methane...

Thus, the theory of the organic origin of oil was experimentally proven. What other difficulties could there be?...

But on the other hand, in 1866, the French chemist M. Berthelot suggested that oil was formed in the bowels of the Earth from mineral substances. To support his theory, he conducted several experiments by artificially synthesizing hydrocarbons from inorganic substances.

Ten years later, on October 15, 1876, D.I. Mendeleev made a detailed report at a meeting of the Russian Chemical Society. He outlined his hypothesis for the formation of oil. The scientist believed that during mountain-building processes, water flows deep into the earth’s crust through cracks and faults. Seeping into the depths, it eventually encounters iron carbides and, under the influence of ambient temperatures and pressure, reacts with them, resulting in the formation of iron oxides and hydrocarbons, such as ethane. The resulting substances rise along the same faults into the upper layers of the earth's crust and saturate the porous rocks. This is how gas and oil fields are formed.

In his reasoning, Mendeleev refers to experiments in producing hydrogen and unsaturated hydrocarbons by exposing cast iron containing a sufficient amount of carbon to sulfuric acid.

True, the ideas of the “pure chemist” Mendeleev were initially not successful with geologists, who believed that the experiments carried out in the laboratory were significantly different from the processes occurring in nature.

However, unexpectedly, the carbide or, as it is also called, abiogenic theory about the origin of oil received new evidence - from astrophysicists. Studies of the spectra of celestial bodies have shown that carbon and hydrogen compounds are found in the atmosphere of Jupiter and other large planets, as well as in the gaseous shells of comets. Well, since hydrocarbons are widespread in space, it means that in nature there are still processes of synthesis of organic substances from inorganics. But this is precisely what Mendeleev’s theory is based on.

So, today there are two points of view on the nature of the origin of oil. One is biogenic. According to it, oil was formed from the remains of animals or plants. The second theory is abiogenic. It was developed in detail by D.I. Mendeleev, who suggested that oil in nature can be synthesized from inorganic compounds.

And although most geologists still adhere to the biogenic theory, the echoes of these disputes have not subsided to this day. The price of truth in this case is too high. If the proponents of the biogenic theory are right, then the fear is also true that oil reserves that arose a long time ago may soon come to an end. If the truth is on the side of their opponents, then these fears are probably in vain. After all, earthquakes even now lead to the formation of faults in the earth’s crust, there is enough water on the planet, its core, according to some data, consists of pure iron... In a word, all this allows us to hope that oil is formed in the depths today, which means there is nothing to fear that tomorrow it may end.

Let's see what arguments proponents of one and the other hypothesis give in defense of their points of view.

But first, a few words about the structure of the Earth. This will help us quickly understand the logical constructions of scientists. Simply put, the Earth is three spheres located inside each other. The upper shell is the solid earth's crust. The mantle is located deeper. And finally, in the very center is the core. This division of matter, which began 4.5 billion years ago, continues to this day. There is intense heat and mass exchange between the crust, mantle and core, with all the ensuing geological consequences - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, continental movements...

INORGANIC PARADE

The first attempts to explain the origin of oil date back to antiquity. For example, a statement by the ancient Greek scientist Strabo, who lived about 2000 years ago, has been preserved: “In the region of the Apollonians there is a place called Nymphaeum,” he wrote, “this is a rock spewing fire, and under it flow sources of warm water and asphalt, probably from combustion of asphalt blocks underground...".

Strabo combined two facts into a whole: volcanic eruptions and the formation of asphalts (as he called oil). And... I was wrong! There are no active volcanoes in the places he mentioned. They didn’t exist even twenty centuries ago. What Strabo mistook for eruptions are actually outbursts, breakthroughs of groundwater (so-called mud volcanoes) that accompany the release of oil and gas to the surface. And today, similar phenomena can be observed in Absheron and the Taman Peninsula.

However, despite the mistake, there was a sound grain in Strabo’s reasoning - his interpretation of the origin of oil had a materialistic basis. This line was interrupted for a long time. Only in 1805, based on his own observations made in Venezuela, on descriptions of the eruption of Vesuvius, the famous German naturalist A. Humboldt again returned to the materialist point of view. “...We cannot doubt,” he writes, “that oil is a product of distillation at enormous depths and comes from primitive rocks, under which the energy of all volcanic phenomena rests.”

The inorganic theory of the origin of oil crystallized gradually, and by the time Mendeleev put forward his theory of the carbide origin of oil, inorganics had accumulated a sufficient number of facts and reasoning. And subsequent years added new information to their collection.

In 1877-1878, French scientists, using hydrochloric acid on mirror cast iron and water vapor on iron at white heat, obtained hydrogen and a significant amount of hydrocarbons, which even smelled like oil.

In addition to the volcanic hypothesis, supporters of the abiogenic origin of oil also have a cosmic one. Geologist V.D. Sokolov suggested in 1889 that in that distant period when our entire planet was still a gas clot, hydrocarbons were also present in the composition of this gas. As the hot gas cooled and passed into the liquid phase, the hydrocarbons gradually dissolved in the liquid magma. When the solid earth's crust began to form from liquid magma, it, according to the laws of physics, could no longer contain hydrocarbons. They began to be released along cracks in the earth's crust, rose to its upper layers, condensing and forming accumulations of oil and gas here.

Already in our time, both hypotheses - volcanic and cosmic - were combined into a single whole by the Novosibirsk researcher V. Salnikov. He used the assumption that the planet, which had a large amount of hydrocarbons in its composition, being in too low an orbit, was gradually slowed down by the upper layers of the atmosphere and eventually fell to Earth, as happens with artificial satellites. The sharp shock intensified volcanic and mountain-building activity. Billions of tons of volcanic ash and powerful mud flows overwhelmed hydrocarbons brought from space, buried them in the deep depths, where under the influence of high temperatures and pressures they turned into oil and gas.

To substantiate his conclusions, Salnikov points to the unusual location of oil and gas fields. By connecting large zones of discovered deposits, he obtained a system of parallel sinusoidal lines, which, in his opinion, is very reminiscent of the projections of the trajectories of artificial Earth satellites.

The story about inorganic hypotheses cannot be considered complete without mentioning the famous oil geologist N.A. Kudryavtsev. In the 50s, he collected and summarized enormous geological material on oil and gas fields of the world.

First of all, Kudryavtsev drew attention to the fact that many oil and gas deposits are found under zones of deep faults in the earth’s crust. In itself, such an idea was not new: D.I. Mendeleev drew attention to this circumstance. But Kudryavtsev greatly expanded the geography of application of such conclusions and substantiated them more deeply.

For example, in the north of Siberia, in the area of ​​the so-called Markhininsky shaft, oil seeps to the surface are very common. To a depth of up to two kilometers, all rocks are literally saturated with oil. At the same time, as the analysis showed, the amount of carbon formed simultaneously with the rock is extremely small - 0.02-0.4%. But as you move away from the shaft, the amount of rocks rich in organic compounds increases, but the amount of oil sharply decreases.

Based on these and other data, Kudryavtsev argues that the oil and gas potential of the Markhininsky swell is most likely associated not with organic matter, but with a deep fault, which supplies oil from the bowels of the planet.

Similar formations exist in other regions of the world. For example, in the state of Wyoming (USA), residents have long been heating their houses with pieces of asphalt, which they take from the cracks in the mountains of the neighboring Copper Mountains. But the granites themselves, which make up those mountains, cannot accumulate oil and gas. These minerals can only come from the depths of the earth through cracks formed.

Moreover, traces of oil were found in kimberlite pipes - the very ones in which nature synthesized diamonds. Such channels of explosive fracture of the earth's crust, formed as a result of the breakthrough of deep gases and magma, may turn out to be quite a suitable place for the formation of oil and gas.

Summarizing these and many other facts, Kudryavtsev created his magmatic hypothesis of the origin of oil. In the Earth's mantle, under pressure and at high temperatures, hydrocarbon radicals CH, CH2 and CH3 are first formed from carbon and hydrogen. They move in the mantle from areas of high to low pressure. And since the pressure difference is especially noticeable in the fault zone, carbon is directed primarily here. Rising into the layers of the earth's crust, hydrocarbons in less heated zones react with each other and with hydrogen, forming oil. Then the resulting liquid can move both vertically and horizontally along cracks in the rock, accumulating in traps.

Based on theoretical concepts, Kudryavtsev advised searching for oil not only in the upper layers, but also deeper. This forecast is brilliantly confirmed, and the drilling depth increases every year.

In the mid-60s, it was possible to answer such an important question: “Why do such “delicate” hydrocarbon compounds that make up oil do not disintegrate in the bowels of the Earth into chemical elements at high temperatures?” Indeed, such decomposition can easily be observed even in a school laboratory. Destructive oil refining is based on such reactions. It turned out that in nature the situation is just the opposite - complex compounds are formed from simple compounds... Mathematical modeling of chemical reactions has proven that such a synthesis is quite acceptable if we add high pressures to high temperatures. Both, as is known, are available in abundance in the bowels of the earth.

Experts perceive the widespread forecast about the imminent (in 30-50 years) depletion of oil reserves differently. Most with respect (“it is so”), others with skepticism (“oil reserves are limitless!”), and still others with regret (“it could last for centuries…”). “Popular Mechanics” decided to look into this issue.

Oil formation according to the biogenic theory

The volumes of oil production at the White Tiger field on the Vietnamese shelf exceeded the most optimistic forecasts of geologists and inspired many oil workers with hope that huge reserves of “black gold” are stored at great depths.

1494−1555: Georgius Agricola, physician and metallurgist. Until the 18th century, there were many curious versions of the origin of oil (from “earth fat under the influence of the waters of the Flood,” from amber, from whale urine, etc.). In 1546, George Agricola wrote that oil is of inorganic origin, and coals are formed by its thickening and solidification

1711−1765: Mikhailo Vasilyevich Lomonosov, encyclopedist scientist - chemist, physicist, astronomer, etc. One of the first to express a scientifically based concept about the origin of oil from plant residues subjected to charring and pressure in the layers of the earth (“On the layers of the earth,” 1763) : “Brown and black oily matter is expelled from the coals being prepared by underground heat...”

1834−1907: Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, chemist, physicist, geologist, meteorologist, etc. At first, he shared the idea of ​​​​the organic origin of oil (as a result of reactions occurring at great depths, at high temperatures and pressures, between carbonaceous iron and water seeping from the surface land). Later adhered to the “inorganic” version

1861−1953: Nikolai Dmitrievich Zelinsky, organic chemist. Made a significant contribution to solving the problem of the origin of oil. Showed that some carbon compounds that are part of animals and plants, at low temperatures and appropriate conditions, can form products similar to oil in chemical composition and physical properties

1871−1939: Ivan Mikhailovich Gubkin, petroleum geologist. Founder of Soviet petroleum geology, supporter of the biogenic theory. He summarized the results of studies of the nature of oil and came to the conclusion: the process of its formation is continuous; areas of the earth's crust that were unstable in the past at the boundaries of areas of subsidence and uplift are most favorable for the formation of oil

Roughly speaking, no one knows how many years oil reserves will last. What’s more surprising is that to this day no one can say exactly how oil is formed, although this has been debated since the 19th century. Scientists, depending on their beliefs, were divided into two camps.

Nowadays the biogenic theory prevails among specialists in the world. It states that oil and natural gas were formed from the remains of plant and animal organisms in a multi-stage process lasting millions of years. According to this theory, one of the founders of which was Mikhailo Lomonosov, oil reserves are irreplaceable and all its deposits will one day run out. Non-renewable, of course, given the transience of human civilizations: the first alphabet and nuclear energy are separated by no more than four thousand years, while the formation of new oil from the current organic remains will require millions. This means that our not too distant descendants will have to cope first without oil, and then without gas...

Proponents of the abiogenic theory look to the future with optimism. They believe that oil and gas reserves will last us for many centuries. Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev, while in Baku, once learned from geologist Herman Abikh that oil fields are very often geographically confined to faults - a special type of cracks in the earth's crust. At the same time, the famous Russian chemist became convinced that hydrocarbons (oil and gas) are formed from inorganic compounds deep underground. Mendeleev believed that during mountain-building processes, through cracks cutting the earth's crust, surface water seeps deep into the Earth to metal masses and reacts with iron carbides, forming metal oxides and hydrocarbons. Hydrocarbons then rise through cracks into the upper layers of the earth's crust and form oil and gas deposits. According to the abiogenic theory, the formation of new oil will not have to wait millions of years; it is a completely renewable resource. Proponents of the abiogenic theory are confident that new deposits await discovery at great depths, and currently explored oil reserves may well turn out to be insignificant compared to those still unknown.

Looking for evidence

Geologists, however, are more pessimists than optimists. At least they have more reasons to trust the biogenic theory. Back in 1888, German scientists Gefer and Engler conducted experiments that proved the possibility of obtaining oil from animal products. When distilling fish oil at a temperature of 4000C and a pressure of about 1 MPa, they isolated saturated hydrocarbons, paraffin and lubricating oils from it. Later, in 1919, Academician Zelinsky from organic sludge from the bottom of Lake Balkhash, mainly of plant origin, obtained crude tar, coke and gases - methane, CO, hydrogen and hydrogen sulfide during distillation. Then he extracted gasoline, kerosene and heavy oils from the resin, experimentally proving that oil can also be obtained from organic plant matter.

Supporters of the inorganic origin of oil had to adjust their views: now they did not deny the origin of hydrocarbons from organic matter, but believed that they could be obtained in an alternative, inorganic way. Soon they had their own evidence. Spectroscopic studies have shown that simple hydrocarbons are present in the atmosphere of Jupiter and other giant planets, as well as their satellites and in the gaseous shells of comets. This means that if in nature there are processes of synthesis of organic substances from inorganics, nothing prevents the formation of hydrocarbons from carbides on Earth. Soon other facts were discovered that were not consistent with the classical biogenic theory. At a number of oil wells, oil reserves unexpectedly began to recover.

Oil magic

One of the first such paradoxes was discovered in an oil field in the Tersko-Sunzha region, not far from Grozny. The first wells were drilled here back in 1893, in places of natural oil shows.

In 1895, one of the wells from a depth of 140 m produced a huge gush of oil. After 12 days of gushing, the walls of the oil barn collapsed and the flow of oil flooded the derricks of nearby wells. Only three years later it was possible to tame the fountain, then it dried up and they switched from the fountain method of oil production to the pumping method.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, all the wells were heavily watered, and some of them were mothballed. After the onset of peace, production was restored, and, to everyone’s surprise, almost all high-water-cut wells began to produce anhydrous oil! Inexplicably, the wells received a “second wind.” After another half century, the situation repeated itself. By the beginning of the Chechen wars, the wells were again heavily watered, their flow rates had decreased significantly, and during the wars they were not exploited. When production was resumed, production rates increased significantly. Moreover, the first small wells began to pump oil again through the annulus onto the earth’s surface. Supporters of the biogenic theory were at a loss, while “inorganics” easily explained this paradox by the fact that in this place the oil is of inorganic origin.

Something similar happened at one of the world’s largest oil fields, Romashkinskoye, which has been developed for more than 60 years. According to Tatar geologists, 710 million tons of oil could be extracted from the wells of the field. However, to date, almost 3 billion tons of oil have already been produced here! The classical laws of oil and gas geology cannot explain the observed facts. Some wells seemed to be pulsating: a drop in production rates was suddenly replaced by a long-term increase. A pulsating rhythm was also noted in many other wells in the territory of the former USSR.

It is impossible not to mention the “White Tiger” field on the Vietnamese shelf. From the very beginning of oil production, “black gold” was extracted exclusively from sedimentary strata; here the sedimentary strata (about 3 km) was drilled through, entered into the foundation of the earth’s crust, and the well flowed. Moreover, according to geologists, about 120 million tons could be extracted from the well, but even after this volume was extracted, oil continued to flow from the depths with good pressure. The field raised a new question for geologists: does oil accumulate only in sedimentary rocks or can it be contained in basement rocks? If there is also oil in the foundation, then the world's oil and gas reserves may be much greater than we think.

Fast and inorganic

What causes the “second wind” of many wells, which is inexplicable from the point of view of classical oil and gas geology? “In the Tersko-Sunzhenskoye field and some others, oil can be formed from organic matter, but not over millions of years, as classical geology provides, but in a matter of years,” says the head of the department of geology of the Russian State University of Oil and Gas. THEM. Gubkin Viktor Petrovich Gavrilov. “The process of its formation can be compared to the artificial distillation of organic matter, similar to the experiments of Gefer and Zelinsky, but carried out by nature itself. This rate of oil formation became possible due to the geological features of the area, where, together with the lower part of the lithosphere, part of the sediment is drawn into the upper mantle of the Earth. There, under conditions of high temperatures and pressures, rapid processes of destruction of organic matter and the synthesis of new hydrocarbon molecules occur.”

At the Romashkinskoye field, according to Professor Gavrilov, a different mechanism operates. Here, in the thickness of the crystalline rocks of the earth's crust, in the basement, lies a thick layer of high-alumina gneisses more than 3 billion years old. These ancient rocks contain a lot (up to 15%) of graphite, from which hydrocarbons are formed at high temperatures in the presence of hydrogen. Along faults and cracks they rise into the porous sedimentary layer of the crust.

There is another mechanism for the rapid replenishment of hydrocarbon reserves, discovered in the West Siberian oil and gas province, where half of all hydrocarbon reserves in Russia are concentrated. Here, according to the scientist, in the buried rift valley of the ancient ocean, processes of methane formation from inorganics occurred and are occurring, as in “black smokers” (see sidebar). But the local rift valley is blocked by sediment, which prevents the dispersion of methane and causes it to concentrate in rock reservoirs. This gas fed and continues to feed the entire West Siberian Plain with hydrocarbons. Here, oil is rapidly formed from organic compounds. So, will there always be hydrocarbons here?

“If we build our approach to field development on new principles,” the professor replies, “we coordinate the rate of extraction with the rate of receipt of hydrocarbons from generation centers in these areas, the wells will operate for hundreds of years.”

But this is too optimistic a scenario. The realities are more cruel: in order for reserves to be replenished, humanity will have to abandon “violent” extraction technologies. In addition, it will be necessary to introduce special rehabilitation periods, temporarily abandoning the exploitation of deposits. Can we do this in the face of a growing global population and growing needs? Hardly. After all, apart from nuclear energy, oil does not yet have a worthy alternative.

Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev critically stated in the century before last that burning oil is like burning a furnace with banknotes. If the great chemist lived today, he would probably call us the craziest generation in the history of civilization. And perhaps I would be wrong - our children can still surpass us. But the grandchildren will most likely never have such a chance...

There are basically two theories of the origin of oil and gas - organic (sedimentary-migration) and inorganic (abiogenic). It should be immediately noted that the overwhelming majority of scientists and petroleum geologists who practically carry out the search for oil and gas are in favor of the theory of the organic origin of oil. However, some scientists in our country defend the abiogenic genesis of oil.

The basis of the theory of the inorganic origin of oil and gas was laid in 1877 by the great Russian scientist D.I. Mendeleev.

D.I. Mendeleev believed that hydrocarbons are formed deep in the bowels of the Earth through the interaction of heavy metal carbides with water coming from the surface along faults. Then, under the pressure of superheated steam, the mixture of these hydrocarbons rises along the same faults into the upper part of the earth's crust. Low pressures and significantly lower temperatures prevail here, so gaseous hydrocarbons condense and form accumulations.

The most compelling objections to the carbide theory of D. I. Mendeleev were expressed by I. M. Gubkin. Firstly, there are no faults in the earth’s crust that penetrate into the mantle and even the core to a depth of 2900 km; secondly, it has not been proven that deep rocks contain metal carbides.

Biological and chemical factors also argue against the inorganic origin of hydrocarbons. There are many such reasoned objections.

N. B. Vassoevich makes a compelling argument in favor of the biological origin of carbon compounds contained in ancient rocks. He points out that in nature there are two isotopes of carbon - 12 C and 13 C, and in living organisms there is less 13 C isotope than in minerals. The deficiency of the 13 C isotope in oil clearly resolves the issue of its connection with living nature.

A.I. Kravtsov believes that oil could have been formed from methane, but methane itself arose not as a result of the decay of organic matter of animal origin, but as a result of synthesis from hydrogen and carbon monoxide or dioxide coming from the subcrustal depths of the Earth along deep faults that can be traced to the mantle . Further, A.I. Kravtsov provides data that throughout the history of the Earth, volcanic activity on average was equal to modern activity, and gives the following example. Over 83 million years, 9.0 * 10 19 t H 2, 2.7 * 10 11 t CO, 2.7 * 10 11 t CH 4, 9.0 * 10 14 t CO were brought to the surface on the Kuril Islands alone 2. He then states that methane molecules are capable of polymerizing into heavy hydrocarbons under the catalytic action of silicates, as well as oxides of iron and nickel contained in rocks. According to the same scientist, most of the initial accumulations of hydrocarbons are represented mainly by methane and its light homologues - “dry gas”, gradually turning into condensate consisting of “liquid gas”; the latter then turns into light gasoline oils, which subsequently, under appropriate thermodynamic conditions, become heavier and heavier until they turn into bitumen. Hence the conclusion is drawn that gas and oil regions should be associated not with sedimentary basins, but with zones of deep faults penetrating into the mantle and facilitating the release of gases from it.

These are the modern ideas of one of the supporters of the inorganic (abiogenic) origin of oil and gas.

The theory of the organic origin of oil was successfully developed by I.M. Gubkin. According to his views, the starting material for the formation of oil is fats, wax and other compounds, and coal - lignin, fiber, etc. In an oxidizing environment (with the access of oxygen), organic matter is converted into coal, and in a reducing environment - into petroleum hydrocarbons.

In recent years, many scientists have been successfully studying the problem of the origin of oil. Of particular interest is the theory of N.B. Vassoevich about its sedimentary-migration formation. According to the author of this theory, oil is formed in sedimentary rocks in the form of a uniformly dispersed bituminous substance, which he calls micro-oil, from plankton containing fatty substances. The total content of dispersed hydrocarbons in the continental sector of the stratisphere is approximately (70÷80) 10 12 m. Subsequently, as the depth of the parent sedimentary strata increases, the “maturation” of micro-oil occurs. The main factors stimulating this process are temperature, exposure time and pressure. The main phase of oil formation is characterized by a temperature range of 60-150°C and pressure from 15 to 45 MPa. Such conditions are usually observed at a depth of 1500-5000 m. During the main phase, not only liquid hydrocarbons are formed, but also conditions for their emigration from source rocks are created.

According to I. O. Brod and N. B. Vassoevich, oil and gas bearing areas are depressions in the earth’s crust, which are commonly called sedimentary rock basins. These basins were formed over millions and tens of millions of years. N.B. Vassoevich and other scientists indicate that the areas of such depressions reach many thousands and even hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, and the volumes of rocks filling them range from n10 3 to n10 6 km 3. These basins are the birthplace of oil.

Along with oil formation, the process of generating hydrocarbon gases occurs.

Exploration work carried out in sedimentary basins on the continents annually ensures an increase in oil and gas reserves. Oil and gas lurk at the bottom of the seas, in sedimentary basins developed almost everywhere in the shelf (and continental slope) zone around the continents.

Summarizing the discussion of the origin of oil and gas, it should be emphasized that the main source of their formation is carbonaceous matter buried in sedimentary rocks. Currently, a large, convincing and thoroughly verified factual and experimental material has been accumulated on this issue.

Thus, the theory of organic, or sedimentary-migration, origin of oil and gas is the most acceptable. When forecasting the oil and gas content of the subsoil and when searching for oil and gas, geologists are usually guided by the theory outlined above.