One of the biggest fairy tales we keep hearing is that oil is a “fossil” fuel in limited supplies. How do you explain reports of capped wells in OK and TX that are apparently re-filling? The series of minor earth tremors they’ve had and continue to occur have opened isolated pockets of oil. We’re swimming on oceans of it - the only true fossil fuel is coal, produced from billions of pre-historic plants that died and became trapped. The key word here is that oil is made up of HYDRO-CARBONS - a simple example in Geology 101 reveals how they’re formed, and continue to be replenished What we’re always facing are companies playing with prices, and politicians putting ridiculous taxes on gas - a necessity now that we have to have just to exist. The average gas price before Obama took office was $1.89 a gallon - need I write more? Starting in January, keep a record of your gas purchases until July, or the end of the year - you’ll be surprised - or disgusted.
You have got that right. I think a lot of people are going to be surprised and screwed at the same time IMHO
You’ve touched on one of the biggest mysteries in geology. One hypothesis says oil and gas form constantly from methane percolating through the mantle, though it is unclear at what rate. As you may imagine, to state that oil and natural gas are a form of renewable energy will be an anathema in the eyes of leftist Academia, as well as damaging to market capitalization of oil producers.
Can be a moot point, with new battery technology becoming available.
If only we could drink oil and crap lithium…
Well, if oil is finite, wouldn’t using it all force us to find alternatives? 
I’m not a SME- at all- but I have an uncle who’s been a scientist in the oil industry for 50 years. He claims that no one really knows where oil comes from. Not really. Anyone who says they do hasn’t been studying it long enough.
I’m willing to accept his answer. It fits with the idea that the more you learn, the more you realize how much you don’t know. Kind of like here, actually.
All I wanted was numbers - not a can of industrial- grade kickass.
If oil is finite, we would have had hydrogen and electricity for autos long ago - this carbon footprint nonsense is just another scam to suck $$ from us. Next to hydrogen, carbon is reputedly the most common and abundant element in the universe. Solar power is a nice idea, but it’s simply not a robust energy source and reliance on nuclear power is insane - at the last count, I believe we had 120 potential Fukushimas - the situation in Japan became so bad that anyone reporting on it could be jailed by the govt.
Deep earth processes, over Ks - maybe Ms - of years.
Yeah, but that’s a very high level answer.
It’s like a kidney surgeon I heard speak some years ago. He said when he was a Med student, he though he knew how kidneys work. Now that he’s a leading authority on kidneys, he realizes how little we actually know.
Same with oil.
And I believe many community members will agree, it’s the same with firearms. The more we learn, the more we realize how much more there is to learn.
Education = Thesis (Academics) + Antithesis (Real World Experience) + Synthesis - and education is an ongoing process. I try to learn something new - however trivial - every day.
well, yes and no. I’ve come to conclusion that the climate affair is a colossal fraud and the more urgent they make it sound, the nearer we are to it being exposed. This is not to say that a mountain of ash that a coal plant produces is not a pollutant - and a much worse one than a safely operated nuclear power plant. I think the future of energy, both consumer and industrial, is nuclear.
The issue is not with greenhouse gas emissions, but with general release of heat into the environment. It is growing exponentially, regardless if you are trapping Sun energy, or burning coal, or fusing Tritium or whatever. Now it is miniscule and affects nothing, but before very long it will absolutely threaten the biosphere. Google up Kardashev Scale. It’s going to happen.
Time to shop for lead-lined underwear to protect your “naughty-bits”.
And so will the next Ice Age, it will happen.
It will be used as a form of birth control. Something has to explain the upcoming wuss generation. LOL.
Yes, there are two theories, and it might be some blend of them; abiogenic, and biogenic. Where the abiogenic comes from, how it is created and how long it takes, are still questions. Those same questions are posed to biogenic creation, too. It almost sounds like the debate between the God theory and the Big Bang theory, but without as much emotional baggage, but more likely to be solved.
Burning any type of fuel has negative impacts on the environment, the people involved in those industries, and on us. We are familiar with wood, coal, gas, and oil, so we are more comfortable with those. We are aware of most of the issues with those sources, but issues with nuclear are measured in eons, so us living will never know or experience the long-term effects. The mining and processing of radioactive materials is at least as hazardous than the storage of the spent fuel, probably more so. As another mentioned, the idea of a Chernobyl, or Fukushima, or Three Mile Island, etc., makes nuclear even more worrisome. And those are the major events we are aware of, there are numerous lower-level radioactive emissions that happen much more frequently, we just rarely read about them.
Coal ash is radioactive
Very instructive.