Where does oil come from?

[FRED]

Step 1 - Energy Capture

Side view of a typical diatom, the energy-trapping organism generally thought to be the origin of oil. photo copyright 2001 by Dee Breger at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

In spite of some popular misconceptions, oil doesn't come from dead dinosaurs. In fact, most scientists agree that oil comes from creatures the size of a pinhead. These one-celled creatures, known as diatoms, aren't really plants, but share one very important characteristic with them - they take light from the sun and convert it into energy. (Humans can't do this - this is why you have to eat your veggies!)

Diatoms float in the top few meters of the oceans (and lakes, for that matter - which is part of the reason why not ALL oil comes from ocean deposits!) and also happen to be a major source of food for many forms of ocean swimmers. Their skeletons are chemically very similar to sand - in fact, they are made of the same material (silica). Diatoms produce a kind of oil by themselves - both to store chemical energy from photosynthesis and to increase their ability to float. But this small amount of oil still needs to become concentrated and mature before it can be taken from the ground and used as fuel.

Move ahead to Step 2

[Guest]

Re: Where does oil come from?

MOVE AHEAD TO STEP TWO. MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST - 2 HOUR TIME LIMIT.

Oil is made by Exxon and Chevron (and maybe ARCO and BP)? :confused:
Gasoline is made by Exxon and Chevron and ARCO, (and maybe BP)?
Soda is made by soda fountains at, like, Dairy Queen or other leading food franchise stores?
Milk is made by cows, or maybe by those Knudsen's Dairy Farms guys?
Toothpaste is made by the supermarkets, or maybe by those Colgate / Palmolive tubes with the stripes?
Velveeta cheese is like, squeezed out of California-Cheese tubes?
Water is made by Municipal Authorities, or by the water faucets?
Ketchup comes out of those Heinz company bottles that you can like, find in diners and better restaurants?
Gold is made by banks and the higher quality govermints?
The national debt is made by higher quality govermints?
Electricity comes out of power plugs, and maybe wires?
Plastic bags are made by "The Supermarkets"?
Frankfurters are made out of "stuff" at Oscar Meyer's factory?
"Money" is made by the govermints whenever old money wears out? :rolleyes:
Education is made by the school boards?
Cool threads come out of Banana Republic stores?
Cocoa comes out of faucets at the Nestle' company, and faucets at that English company called, like Cadbury's?
Chocolate comes out of candy wrappers under christmas trees?
BMW's are made by containers at Long Beach in LA?
Honda's are made by containers at Long Beach in LA?
Fords and GM's are "made in the USA"?
American prosperity is "Made By The Founding Fathers"? :confused:
Turkeys were invented for Thanksgiving? :confused: :confused: :confused:
"Turkeys can fly" was invented in America?
Yurup is the place where the "Big Ben" (and those red public buses) are at, and the Yeiffel Tower in Paris-France is at, and the Tower-of-Pisa in Pisa-Italy is at, and where those guys in Lederhosen live?
Pizzas are made out of Dominos stores?
Our high cost of living is because of Big Oil Companies?
Freedom was "Made by George Washington" [TM] ?
Orange Juice comes out of Dole and Sunkist factories?
Carbon Trading is "Made By Liberals"?
Polar Bears are made by Museums?
Martha Stewart is made by "Martha Stewart Living Media"?
Jobs are made by ... the Govermint?
Budweiser is made out of switchgrass?
Teflon is made out of "American Know-How"?
POWERBAR energy snacks should be distributed like, free, to poor nations?
Tunafish comes from "Chicken-of-the-Sea" cans?
Wines are "Made by France en Italy"?
Motor Oil is made by Auto-Parts stores?
Yoghurt is made by Yoplait and Knudsen's?
The United Nations was "Made In The USA" but got hijacked by furry-ners?
We buy stuff from developing countries because there is a glut of savings and to help global growth?
Credit cards money is made by the ATM machines? :confused:
Poor countries are made by lack of capitalism? :confused:
Our standard of living is ... uh ... non-negotiable? :rolleyes:

[Jim Nickerson]

Re: Where does oil come from?

Oil is made by Exxon and Chevron (and maybe ARCO and BP)? :confused:
Gasoline is made by Exxon and Chevron and ARCO, (and maybe BP)?
Soda is made by soda fountains at, like, Dairy Queen or other leading food franchise stores?
Milk is made by cows, or maybe by those Knudsen's Dairy Farms guys?
Toothpaste is made by the supermarkets, or maybe by those Colgate / Palmolive tubes with the stripes?
Velveeta cheese is like, squeezed out of California-Cheese tubes?
Water is made by Municipal Authorities, or by the water faucets?
Ketchup comes out of those Heinz company bottles that you can like, find in diners and better restaurants?
Gold is made by banks and the higher quality govermints?
The national debt is made by higher quality govermints?
Electricity comes out of power plugs, and maybe wires?
Plastic bags are made by "The Supermarkets"?
Frankfurters are made out of "stuff" at Oscar Meyer's factory?
"Money" is made by the govermints whenever old money wears out? :rolleyes:
Education is made by the school boards?
Cool threads come out of Banana Republic stores?
Cocoa comes out of faucets at the Nestle' company, and faucets at that English company called, like Cadbury's?
Chocolate comes out of candy wrappers under christmas trees?
BMW's are made by containers at Long Beach in LA?
Honda's are made by containers at Long Beach in LA?
Fords and GM's are "made in the USA"?
American prosperity is "Made By The Founding Fathers"? :confused:
Turkeys were invented for Thanksgiving? :confused: :confused: :confused:
Yurup is the place where the "Big Ben" (and those red public buses) are at, and the Yeiffel Tower in Paris-France is at, and the Tower-of-Pisa in Pisa-Italy is at, and where those guys in Lederhosen live?
Pizzas are made out of Dominos stores?
Our high cost of living is because of Big Oil Companies?
Freedom was "Made by George Washington" [TM] ?
Orange Juice comes out of Dole and Sunkist factories?
Carbon Trading is "Made By Liberals"?
Polar Bears are made by Museums?
Martha Stewart is made by "Martha Stewart Living Media"?
Jobs are made by ... the Govermint?
Budweiser is made out of switchgrass?
Teflon is made out of "American Know-How"?
POWERBAR energy snacks should be distributed like, free, to poor nations?
Tunafish comes from "Chicken-of-the-Sea" cans?
Wines are "Made by France en Italy"?
Motor Oil is made by Auto-Parts stores?
Yoghurt is made by Yoplait and Knudsen's?
The United Nations was "Made In The USA" but got hijacked by furry-ners?
We buy stuff from developing countries because there is a glut of savings and to help global growth?
Credit cards money is made by the ATM machines? :confused:
Poor countries are made by lack of capitalism? :confused:
Our standard of living is ... uh ... non-negotiable? :rolleyes:

That's pretty good, Luke, bearing out that an idle mine is the devil's workbench.

Edit: I hate myself when I have these hot flashes of charitableness, the ravages of aging, I guess.

[Supercilious]

Re: Where does oil come from?

Credit cards money is made by the ATM machines?

That is correct! The bonar paper (legal tender notes) is manufactured by the Treasury and stored in ATM's for distribution, but the credit cards money is actually made by the ATM machines. It is that simple!

[GRG55]

Re: Where does oil come from?

MOVE AHEAD TO STEP TWO. MULTIPLE CHOICE TEST - 2 HOUR TIME LIMIT.

Electricity comes out of power plugs, and maybe wires?

Yep. And if you don't use those "child proof" plugs on the unused outlets, it leaks out [invisibly] all over your living room carpet. Which is why your power bills are so high...

[Guest]

Re: Where does oil come from?

No, the power bills are high because of the greedy oil companies. What do they think we are, stupid? :cool:

Yep. And if you don't use those "child proof" plugs on the unused outlets, it leaks out [invisibly] all over your living room carpet. Which is why your power bills are so high...

[GRG55]

Re: Where does oil come from?

No, the power bills are high because of the greedy oil companies. What do they think we are, stupid? :cool:

Damn. I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up Lukester.

Last week I heard that the oil companies and GE bought up all the patents for leak-proof electricity, and the 100mpg light bulb too.

[Guest]

Re: Where does oil come from?

Dang. One of these days we'll finally slap some badass anti-trust action on those bloodsuckers. My champion for this cause is Nancy Pelosi. She's a demon in those senate hearings on "big oil", and lethally well-informed too [ NOT ]. You tell 'em Nancy! Go gettem! :p :p :p

Damn. I was hoping you wouldn't bring that up Lukester. Last week I heard that the oil companies and GE bought up all the patents for leak-proof electricity, and the 100mpg light bulb too.

[cmalbatros]

Re: Where does oil come from?

And now plastic is grown on trees - http://www.spacemart.com/reports/Ger..._wood_999.html

[Jim Nickerson]

Re: Where does oil come from?

Step 1 - Energy Capture

Side view of a typical diatom, the energy-trapping organism generally thought to be the origin of oil. photo copyright 2001 by Dee Breger at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

In spite of some popular misconceptions, oil doesn't come from dead dinosaurs. In fact, most scientists agree that oil comes from creatures the size of a pinhead. These one-celled creatures, known as diatoms, aren't really plants, but share one very important characteristic with them - they take light from the sun and convert it into energy. (Humans can't do this - this is why you have to eat your veggies!)

Diatoms float in the top few meters of the oceans (and lakes, for that matter - which is part of the reason why not ALL oil comes from ocean deposits!) and also happen to be a major source of food for many forms of ocean swimmers. Their skeletons are chemically very similar to sand - in fact, they are made of the same material (silica). Diatoms produce a kind of oil by themselves - both to store chemical energy from photosynthesis and to increase their ability to float. But this small amount of oil still needs to become concentrated and mature before it can be taken from the ground and used as fuel.

Move ahead to Step 2

Interesting that this thread was reawakened. FRED posted this under "Education and Resources" vs. having put it into "rants and raves" or "jokes."

These little "diatoms" are organic, so if what is proposed in the slide-show is correct, oil from this source would be renewable; however, at a very slow rate.

Interesting that this thread never attracted any serious commentary. Luke's comment was clever, but not serious.

Is the information in the opening post of any consequence to the future or man, or only perhaps to what evolves next after humans are gone?

[metalman]

Re: Where does oil come from?

Interesting that this thread was reawakened. FRED posted this under "Education and Resources" vs. having put it into "rants and raves" or "jokes."

These little "diatoms" are organic, so if what is proposed in the slide-show is correct, oil from this source would be renewable; however, at a very slow rate.

Interesting that this thread never attracted any serious commentary. Luke's comment was clever, but not serious.

Is the information in the opening post of any consequence to the future or man, or only perhaps to what evolves next after humans are gone?

remember tet & his anabolic oil jag? anyhow...

We are using up this unique and irreplaceable liquid fuel source several million times faster than it was created by nature hundreds of millions of years ago. In a little more than two human life spans can we have used up half of all of the oil that took several million human life spans to accumulate.

Peak Cheap Oil Update - Part I: The glass is half empty

[Jim Nickerson]

Re: Where does oil come from?

remember tet & his anabolic oil jag? anyhow...

I remember Tet and his "abiotic" oil. I don't think anyone but he, at least here, bought into the existence of abiotic oil.

[metalman]

Re: Where does oil come from?

I remember Tet and his "abiotic" oil. I don't think anyone but he, at least here, bought into the existence of abiotic oil.

it exists but in insignificant quantities... 0.02% is an estimate that i've seen used.

[grapejelly]

Re: Where does oil come from?

oil comes from carbon that was trapped in the earth when the earth was formed. I do not believe in the diatom model for oil.

I think Golds' Deep Biosphere model is the correct one.

[ggirod]

Re: Where does oil come from?

This beautiful video, posted on here before, tells the same story quite well. It puts the timing in context so it also answers your speculation about a very slow rate. Yes, it is occuring today, though the oceans have not become anoxic (lacking oxygen) except in some areas and the temperatures are too cool for the diatoms to grow at the astounding rate that really deposits serious organic matter. Also, the whole food chain in oceans depends on the diatoms - They get eaten by bigger organisms who get eaten by bigger ones yet (almost) ad infinitum so they don't prosper quite the way they did when most of the animal life in the oceans died due to lack of oxygen.

As for abiotic oil, as Metalman says, it exists, but elsewhere I have read that no commercially useful quantity of abiotic oil has ever been discovered.