Modern Theory of Abiotic Deep Genesis of Hydrocarbons: Challenge for Petroleum Industry

Vladimir G. Kutcherov
Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden

Modern scientific consideration about genesis of hydrocarbons, and practical results of geological investigations, provide the understanding of the presence of enormous, inexhaustible resources of hydrocarbons. The concept of the abiotic deep genesis of hydrocarbons, which has been developed during the last 50 years in Russia, recognizes that petroleum is a primordial material of deep origin which has been erupted into the crust of the Earth. Up to now this concept was a geologists' hypothesis. Recently, theoretical arguments and experimental results place this hypothesis in the mainstream of modern thermodynamics and physical chemistry. It has been shown that the spontaneous genesis of hydrocarbons, heavier than methane, under crustal conditions is prohibited by the second law of thermodynamics. Recent experimental results confirm the possibility of hydrocarbons synthesis in the Earth under upper mantle conditions. The mixture of the initial members of alkans, alkens and arens in distribution characteristic of natural petroleum has been obtained as a result of chemical reactions in the system CaCO₃ - H₂O - FeO at pressures of 2.5-5.0 GPa and at temperatures of 1200-1500 K. High-pressure equipment used gave us the possibility to reach a chemical equilibrium in the experimental camera. Two different mechanisms of hydrocarbon synthesis were detected. This experimental demonstration of the spontaneous, high-pressure genesis of hydrocarbons can be accepted as support for the modern theory of abiotic deep genesis of hydrocarbons. This theory allows us to apply a new approach to methods for petroleum exploration, oil and gas formation and to reexamine the world's hydrocarbons reserves.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90072 © 2007 AAPG and AAPG European Region Conference, Athens, Greece