4 - Kuwait Oil Company

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Oil Origins: The Biotic Vs. Abiotic TheoriesThe origin of oil has been thesubject of an extended debatesince its founding in the mid-19th century. Some professionalsbelieve that oil is primordial – thatit dates back to Earth’s origin –and thus was made through aninorganic process. This thesis ischaracterized as the abiotic (alsocalled abiogenic or inorganic)theory. Others argue that oil wasproduced from the decay of livingorganisms (primarily oceanicplankton) that proliferated millionsof years ago during relatively briefperiods of global warming andwere subsequently buried underocean sediment in fortuitouscircumstances. This view describesthe biotic view of oil.During the latter half of the 20thcentury, largely due to advancesin geophysics and geochemistry,the vast majority of scientistshave lined up on the side of thebiotic theory. A small group ofscientists, mostly Russians and asmall minority of Western scientists(notably Cornell Universityphysicist Thomas Gold), werecommitted to the abiotic theory.Gold’s research work argued thathydrocarbons existed at the timeof our solar system’s formationand that they are known to beabundant on other planets (Jupiter,Saturn, Uranus, and some of theirmoons) where no life is presumedto have existed in the past.Implications of Biotic OilTheoryOil companies have used thebiotic theory as the practical basisfor their successful explorationefforts over the past few decades.If there are vast untapped deeppools of hydrocarbons refillingthe reservoirs that oil producersdrill into, operational experiencessuggest that appears to make littledifference to actual production.The industry’s tens of thousandsof oil and gas fields around theworld are observed to depleteand refilling (which is indeed veryrarely observed) is not occurring ata commercially significant scale.Implications of Abiotic OilTheoryThe abiotic theory suggests thatthere are virtually limitless poolsof liquid primordial hydrocarbonsat great depths in the Earth.These pools slowly replenish thereservoirs that conventional oildrillers tap. The abiotic theoristssuggest that conventional drillers,constrained by an incorrect theory,ignore many sites where deep,primordial pools of oil accumulate;if only they would drill in the rightplaces, they would discover muchmore oil than they are findingnow. However, thus far tests of thisclaim have proven inconclusive.Possible Evidence ofAbiotic OilAbiotic theorists often point outevidence of fields refilling assupport of the theory. The mostfrequently quoted example isEugene Island, located on the tipof a mostly submerged mountainthat lies approximately 80 milesoff of the coast of Louisiana. Asignificant reservoir of crude oilwas discovered nearby in thelate ’60s. By 1970 the Eugene330 platform was producingabout 5,000 barrels a day ofhigh-quality crude oil. By thelate 1980s, the Eugene 330′sproduction had slipped to lessthan 4,000 barrels per day andwas generally considered to bedeclining. In 1990, oil productionsuddenly soared back to 15,000barrels a day, and the reserveswhich had been estimated at 60million barrels in the 1970s, wererecalculated at 400 million barrels.Most interestingly, the measuredgeological age of the new oil wassignificantly different than the oilpumped in the 1970s. Analysis ofseismic recordings has revealed thepresence of a “deep fault” at thebase of the Eugene Island reservoirwhich was gushing up a river of oilfrom some deeper and previouslyunknown source.The Abiotic Theory:Within the mantle, carbon mayexist as hydrocarbons - chieflymethane - and as elementalcarbon, carbon dioxide,and carbonates. The abiotichypothesis is that the full suite ofhydrocarbons found in petroleumcan be generated in the mantleby abiogenic processes, and thesehydrocarbons can migrate outof the mantle into the crust untilthey escape to the surface or aretrapped by impermeable strata,forming petroleum reservoirs.Abiogenic theories reject thesupposition that certain moleculesfound within petroleum, knownas biomarkers, are indicative ofthe biological origin of petroleum.They contend that these moleculesmostly come from microbesfeeding on petroleum in its upwardmigration through the crust,that some of them are found inmeteorites, which have presumablynever contacted living material,and that some can be generatedabiogenically by plausible reactionsin petroleum.The presence of methane onSaturn's moon Titan and in theatmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn,Uranus and Neptune is cited as32October - December 2012
evidence of the formation ofhydrocarbons without biology(Terrestrial natural gas is composedprimarily of methane). Somecomets contain massive amounts ofan organic material almost identicalto high grade oil shale (kerogen),the equivalent of cubic kilometersof such mixed with other material;for instance, correspondinghydrocarbons were detected duringa probe fly-by through the tail ofComet Halley in 1986.The Biotic Theory:Most petroleum geologists preferthe theory that attributes oilorigination to vast quantities ofdead marine plankton or plantmaterial that sank into the mud ofshallow seas. Under the resultinganaerobic conditions, organiccompounds remained in a reducedstate where anaerobic bacteriaconverted the lipids (fats, oils andwaxes) into a waxy substancecalled kerogen.As the source rock was burieddeeper, overburden pressureraised temperatures into the oilwindow, between 80 and 180°C.Most of the organic compoundsdegraded into the straight-chainhydrocarbons that comprise mostof petroleum. This process is calledthe generation kitchen. Once crudeoil formed, it became very fluidand migrated upward through therock strata. This process is calledoil expulsion. Eventually it waseither trapped in an oil reservoir oroil escaped to the surface and wasbiodegraded by soil bacteria.Oil buried deeper entered the "gaswindow" of more than 160 °C andwas converted into natural gas bythermal cracking. Thus, this theorypredicts that only unassociatedgas—not oil—will be foundbelow a certain depth. At greaterdepths, even natural gas would bepyrolyzed.Tectonic structures do not necessarily correlate with oil deposits.Abiogenic Hydrocarbons Forming in the MantleThis image illustrates the theory of abiogenic formation of hydrocarbons in theupper mantle. These hydrocarbons then can migrate upward into the crust,and become trapped under impermeable minerals.This visual demonstrates the theory of biotic oil formation.October - December 2012 33
Page 2 and 3: October - December 2012The Kuwaiti
Page 5 and 6: Esam Al-Houti Returns Safely to Kuw
Page 9 and 10: Minister of Oil Hani Hussein (L) an
Page 11 and 12: At KOC, the Asset Action Planis alw
Page 13 and 14: Appendix II: 72 MonthsProduction Fo
Page 16 and 17: Figure 3: Comparison of any company
Page 18 and 19: Enterprise Content Management Busin
Page 20 and 21: • Identifying requirements andmak
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Page 32 and 33: An instructor gives a lesson in Eng
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Page 43 and 44: heavy oil, density and viscosityare
Page 45 and 46: shipyards strategically located all
Page 47 and 48: childhood. Young children whooften
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