Peace's question has not really been answered. The model that says oil deposits are primarily composed of decomposed organic matter has a certain amount of inertia (it's been around since 1910 or so). That's why they are called fossil fuels.

The counter argument is that geological processes continue to create oil elements which build up in deposits in an on-going cycle, drawing on the heat and forces deep under the surface of the planet.

There is a fairly simple approach to sort this out, I would think -- organic carbon residue is identifiable by the inclusion of organic elements such as DNA and other elements associated with life processes, is it not? Carbon dating is another angle that should be able to narrow down where oil generates from.

I have always accepted the received wisdom of fossil-fuel's organic provenance, but I owuld be glad to be proved wrong. If the planet itself is making the stuff, maybe the scarcity panic is a lot more bogus than boggus. If you see what I mean! :)

A