Fossils Not Necessary For Oil and Natural Gas

[famousringo]

NJ5 said:

famousringo said:
I find this a little alarming, actually, because it suggests that the carbon released by harvesting and burning non-fossil hydrocarbons has never been in the biosphere before.

(...)

I don't think it suggests that, in fact the article doesn't even talk about the source of carbon for this alleged process.

 

From the article:

He adds that there is no way that fossil oil, with the help of gravity or other forces, could have seeped down to a depth of 10.5 kilometers in the state of Texas, for example, which is rich in oil deposits.

Sure sounds like he's saying this stuff has been trapped underground since before complex life on Earth to me. I don't think he's quite proved this yet, this is just his hypothesis and his recent research leaves his hypothesis plausible. But if he's right, I think it's cause for some concern.

I guess it's all just academic. Those hydrocarbons are going to get burned whether they're abiotic or not, and their carbon will be released into the biosphere whether it's a return trip or a new destination.