Biogenic theory
Most geologists view crude oil and natural gas as the product of compression and heating of ancient organic materials over geological time. Oil is formed from the preserved remains of prehistoric zooplankton and algae which have been settled to the sea (or lake) bottom in large quantities under anoxic conditions. Terrestrial plants, on the other hand, tend to form coal. Over geological time this organic matter, mixed with mud, is buried under heavy layers of sediment. The resulting high levels of heat and pressure cause the organic matter to chemically change during diagenesis, first into a waxy material known as kerogen which is found in various oil shales around the world, and then with more heat into liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons in a process known as catagenesis.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenic_petroleum_origin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipids
http://www.csu.org/extrx/education/adventure/origins/biobkg.htm
http://www.gasresources.net/Introduction.htm
Abiogenic Origin of Hydrocarbons: An Historical Overview"; Geoffrey P.GLASBY
http://static.scribd.com/docs/j79lhbgbjbqrb.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Agricola
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Lomonosov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Louis_Gay-Lussac
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_von_Humboldt
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcellin_Berthelot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dmitri_Mendeleev
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikolai_Kudryavtsev
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_B._Porfir'ev
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masudi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Polo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Razi
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Pierre_Ancillon_de_la_Sablonnière
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_XV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Pineo_Gesner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignacy_Łukasiewicz
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Silliman
