The only real power comes out of a long rifle.
— Joseph Stalin
It was in those odd years after the second World War and before the rise of the Cold one that Stalin had his dream.
Uncle Joe knew that all modern power stemmed from oil… and that T-34s didn’t run on propaganda.
Stalin set to work building a massive R&D project to study every aspect of petroleum. He wanted to know where it came from, how it was made, and how many reserves exist in the world.
Hundreds of top scientists were assigned to this project, and it has been compared in size and scope to the Manhattan Project.
In 1951, they came up with the Russian Theory of Deep, Abiotic Petroleum.
This theory states oil is abiotic, or abiogenic, in origin.
It is formed not from decaying dinosaurs; but rather, it is naturally formed in the earth and bubbles up from magma.
This view held sway in the old Soviet Union and its satellite states.
Oil from the Core
The argument goes that planets like Jupiter and Saturn are full of methane.
We’ve also found other asteroids which contain large amounts of carbon. Carbon, when hit with vast heat and pressure such as you find in the earth’s core, is transmogrified into oil.
In 2009, this theory was found to be possible in experiments published in a July 26 issue of Nature Geoscience. Scientists discovered that ethane and heavier hydrocarbons can be synthesized under the pressure-temperature conditions of the upper mantle — the layer of earth under the crust and on top of the core.
The research was conducted by scientists at the Carnegie Institution’s Geophysical Laboratory with colleagues from Russia and Sweden.
Biogenic Theory
And in fact abiotic sources of oil have been found — and there may be more pools of oil deep in the earth’s crust.
However, most scientists think that the oil we are burning today is made from prehistoric ocean critters, whose lipids sank to the bottom. Over hundreds of thousands of years, this matter turned into petroleum or natural gas. There is microscopic evidence of this in all oil we now use.
Larry Nation of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists says:
The controversy isn’t over whether naturally forming oil reserves exist, it’s over how much they contribute to Earth’s overall reserves and how much time and effort geologists should devote to seeking them out.
In 1970, the Russians drilled the Kola Superdeep Borehole, or “The Well to Hell”. This reached 40,230 feet into the earth.
They unexpectedly discovered water at a depth that meant it couldn’t have come from the surface, and therefore must have formed from the core. They also found large amounts of hydrogen gas.
The locals tell the story that they found a fiery cavern eight miles deep that burned at 2,000 degrees. They lowered sound equipment from which they could hear the cries of the damned.
This borehole was abandoned in 2005 due to lack of funds. It remains the world’s deepest.
Oil Climbs
Today, the price of West Texas Crude hit $108.
The price of North Sea Brent hit $116.89.
Stalin never found his abiotic oil in quantities to make drilling profitable. He died alone and abandoned on the cold floor of his dacha in 1953.
Perhaps no one will ever find a way to work this type of oil…
Stalin made other mistakes as well, including leaving vast reserves of oil in Central Asia. This oil has now been found.
And barring the rise of another energy source, it will be extremely profitable.
Good Hunting,
Christian DeHaemer
Editor, Wealth Daily
