# How was Oil Created?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-oil-created/124912>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 21, 2002, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-oil-created/124912 "2002-08-21T13:44:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-oil-created/124912/1 "2002-08-21T13:44:47Z")

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From my dim memory comes a “truth” taught in 7th grade science class that oil was created from the decaying remains of animals long dead. Is that the accepted theory? Do we find a higher incidence of fossils in oil-rich lands?

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**Author:** ![Spit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/76d3ee/32.png) [@Spit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spit)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-oil-created/124912/2 "2002-08-21T13:50:27Z")

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You may be on to something:

[http://www.bydesign.com/fossilfuels/links/html/oil/oil\_create.html](http://www.bydesign.com/fossilfuels/links/html/oil/oil_create.html)

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**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2002, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-oil-created/124912/3 "2002-08-21T20:29:52Z")

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You may want to check out an article titled “The argument needs oiling” in the current (17 Aug, 2002) edition of _The Economist_:

> [@](#):
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> In this week’s _Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences_, [Dr. J.F. Kenney] claims to establish that it is energetically impossible for alkanes, one of the main types of hydrocarbon molecule in crude oil, to evolve from biological precursors at the depths where reservoirs have typically been found and plundered…[His experiments] suggest that oil could be produced…from completely inorganic sources.

Apparently the biological origin of crude oil is generally accepted among petroleum geologists and Dr. Kenney’s theory has been greeted with some skepticism. If you’re really interested, you can view the whole article online at [www.economist.com](http://www.economist.com) if you pay for “premium content”.

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**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-was-oil-created/124912/5 "2021-03-16T15:29:38Z")

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