Theories of origin of

petroleum
Even though believer of organic origin of petroleum
agrees on its origin, they differ on the issues related to
The process of formation and the primary organic
constituents, i.e., marine / continental origin?
Quantity of present day petroleum as directly obtained from
hydrocarbon of living organisms or by the transformation of
hydrocarbon compounds into petroleum?
Nature of energy involved in the transformation? Viz.
biochemical action, heat and pressure, radioactivity,
catalytic phenomena, etc.

As far as the occurrence of petroleum is concerned, two

schools of thought prevails:
All petroleum was formed in place, either at or adjacent to
the position of the present pools
Petroleum has migrated from areas of origin to trap areas
i.e., source area doesnt necessarily coincide with the
accumulation area.

Theories of origin of
petroleum

Cosmic theory

Bertheiot (1865), Mendaleef (1877) suggested the

formation of petroleum in the earths interior by the
action of water on metallic carbides such as those of Ca
and Fe. Another proposed mechanism involved the
interaction of alkali metals with CO2 and water
Metallic Carbide + H2O vapor = CH4 + metallic hydroxide
Free alkali + CO2 + H2O vapor = CH4 + alkali hydroxide
Mantle theory/ Golds earthquake out gassing theory
(Gold,1979; Sugisaki et al, 1983; Gold and Held,1987).
Enriched 13C of methane from the hot spots of red sea,
Lake Kivu (East Africa), and East Pacific rise depicts an
abiogenic origin (Mac Donald, 1983).

Theories of origin of
petroleum

Reasons favouring organic origin of proto-petroleum:

The vast amount of organic matter and hydrocarbons
now found are in the sediments of the earth; and carbon
and hydrogen predominate in the remains of both plant
and animal organic matter
Petroleum crude is a complex mixture of hydrocarbon
compounds belonging to a number of homologous
series which, with no stretch of imagination, can be
synthesized from elemental stage
Many crudes have been found to contain porphyrin
pigments an essential component of all forms of life

Theories of origin of
petroleum

Most of the crudes contain nitrogen an essential

component of amino acids [CH2(NH2)COOH] a basic
constituent of life
All forms of crude posses the property of rotating the
plane polarized light which is possessed by cholesterol
(C26H45OH) again an essential component of both plant
and animal life. Only inorganic substances which
possess this property are cinnabar (HgS) and quartz
(SiO2)
The intimate relation of organic matter with the
petroleum in the sediments leaves little doubt that
organic matter was the original source of the petroleum

Theories of origin of
petroleum

Duplex origin of petroleum

Duplex origin of petroleum

CO2 and Hydrogen are passed over a catalyst of
haematite and magnetite at temperature in excess of
500C
Robinson (1963) suggested this process could
produce methane and liquid petroleum in nature.
Szatmari (1986, 1989) discussed this process in the
light of plate tectonics. According to him,
hydrocarbon could be generated by F T process at
convergent plate boundaries where sedimentary
rocks and oceanic crust undergo subduction. Carbon
dioxide could be produced by the metamorphism of
carbonates, and hydrogen by the serpentinization of
ophiolites. The latter would provide the iron oxides
necessary to catalyse the reaction

Origin of petroleum
Criteria for a sedimentary rock to be effective oil
source rock
TOC content > 0.4%
Elemental carbon: 75 90% (< 75% - immature;
> 90% due to advanced catagenesis)
Bitumen : TOC > 0.05
Kerogen should be of amorphous or oil prone type
rather than of structured or gas prone type
Vitrinite reflectance (RO) > 0.6 and < 1.3
H : C and O : C atomic ratios of kerogen residues
should be favourable. Principle phase of oil
formation occurs at an H : C between 0.84 and 0.69.