石油の無機起源説に関する最近の進展

抄録

This is a review of recent published papers regarding the theory of abiogenic origin of petroleum such as Kutcherov and Krayushkin (2010) “Deep-seated abiogenic origin of petroleum.” It discusses the overview of the theory and its credibility with various geological evidences, such as the presence of liquid oil and hydrocarbon gas in primary fluid inclusions in mantle derived rocks, existence of 496 basement oil and gas fields in 29 countries, and oil discoveries at ultra-deep hot temperature reservoirs.

Experimental abiogenic hydrocarbon generation by CaCO₃-FeO-H₂O system at upper mantle ultra-high pressure condition has once been proven by several Russian and Ukrainian academic teams, such as Kenny et al. (2002). And its credibility was reconfirmed by several American academic teams such as Scott et al. (2004) during the last decade.

The theory has already been applied to actual oil exploration. The Ukrainian Academy of Science achieved an extremely high success ratio of 57% through actual oil exploration with the abiogenic theory by 1990's. The exploration area in Dnieper-Donets Basin, Ukraine, had been disqualified as a prospect for a long time, due to the absence of source rocks. However, over 50 oil and gas fields have been discovered in Precambrian crystalline basement rocks and Paleozoic sedimentary rocks in the area so far.

Practical applications of the abiogenic theory in explorations like the case of the Ukrinian Academy of Science are seldom performed in the world. However, the author sees that the said theory will soon be cognized as a highly effective exploration guide among oil exploration geologists.