The Oil Drum

The Oil Drum continually attracts new readers interested in what those concerned about peak oil are saying. This story is mostly for them but also may serve as an amusing review for veteran contributors or readers. It is always a good idea to get back to basics. First time posters are welcome.

Part 1 defines Cornucopian Fallacies and gives a mainstream view from PFC Energy by way of contrasting such extreme views with a moderate voice in the center.

Part 2 presents a taxonomy of some present day Cornucopians who believe that there are no limits to growth. Bear in mind that those concerned about peak oil are sometimes labelled with a broad brush as Cassandras predicting eschatological doom. All of us fit somewhere on this scale.

The Doom & Gloomers are on the far left. The Cornucopians are on the far right. I am in the position left of center marked by an X today but that may change tomorrow should circumstances change. I believe we should never lose our sense of humor around here, a crime of which I have been guilty on occasion. Naturally, many serious points are made along the way.

This post does not deal with some optimists in the energy business like Amory Lovins, CERA, Michael Lynch and CGES who deserve a more extended treatment. That will be the subject of another story.

A few days ago, Energy Bulletin reported that CNBC hosts 'Deep Oil vs. Peak Oil' debate. This turned out to be brief dialogue between Matt Simmons and Craig R. Smith, author of Black Gold Stranglehold: The Myth of Scarcity and the Politics of Oil. This book promotes the theory of abiogenic petroleum formation as we see from this worldnetdaily.com blurb.

Smith and co-author Jerome Corsi contend in "Black Gold Stranglehold" that oil is not a product of decaying dinosaurs and prehistoric forests, but that oil is constantly being produced by the earth, far below the planet's surface, and that it is brought to attainable depths by the centrifugal forces of the earth's rotation.

The book seems to be a follow-up to Thomas Gold's 1998 book The Deep Hot Biosphere in which the maverick astronomer contends that

Gold's theory of oil formation, which he expounded in a book entitled The Deep Hot Biosphere, is that hydrogen and carbon, under high temperatures and pressures found in the mantle during the formation of the Earth, form hydrocarbon molecules which have gradually leaked up to the surface through cracks in rocks.

Here, we will examine some specific claims made by Smith during his CNBC debate (mov clip) with Simmons to see if they are true. We will defer a more theoretical discussion of abiotic oil claims to a later date but as a bonus, we'll learn something about petroleum geology as it relates to Vietnam's oil production where the alleged "super deep" oil comes from.