Hydrogen + Carbon + Heat + Pressure = Petroleum
This question has a hard science answer as we have already produced petroleum in a lab setting. It has nothing at all to do with biomass. We have nearly perfected the process of locating it as well, in reserves far larger than what used to be sought using topology, and at depths where no life could ever have been, such as the White Tiger fields off Korea. So your short answer was given by @Punintended, but the mole of moles is not necessary. We have discovered that four things are needed to make oil:
Requirement 1: Heat and Pressure
- Polymerization of hydrocarbons takes place in the temperature range 600-1500 degrees C and at pressures range of 20-70 kbar [Kenney et al., 2002]
- These conditions prevail deep in the Earth at depths of 70-250 km [Carlson et al. 2005].
- In the asthenosphere the temperature is still relatively high but the pressure is greatly reduced comparable to the low mantle. This creates a situation where the mantle is partially melted. The asthenosphere is a plastic solid in that it flows over time. If hydrocarbon fluids could be generated in the mantle they could be generated in the asthenosphere zone only.
Requirement 2: Hydrogen
Experimental data published in Nature recently [Green et al. 2010] shows that water-storage capacity in the uppermost mantle “is dominated by pargasite and has a maximum of about 0.6 wt% $\text{H}_2\text{O}$ (30% pargasite) at about 1.5 GPa, decreasing to about 0.2 wt% $\text{H}_2\text{O}$ (10% pargasite) at 2.5 GPa”. Another possible source of hydrogen is hydroxyl group in some minerals (biotite, muscovite).
Requirement 3: Carbon
Mao et al., 2011 demonstrate that the addition of minor amounts of iron can stabilize dolomite carbonate in a series of polymorphs that are stable in the pressure and temperature conditions of subducting slabs, thereby providing a mechanism to carry carbonate into the deep mantle. In [Hazen et al., 2012] authors suggest that deep interior may contain more than 90% of Earth's carbon. Possible sources of the carbon in the crust are shown in Fig. 1.
(fig. 1)
Using our research we can even say where oil could be found in Sweden.
Together with two research colleagues, Vladimir Kutcherov has simulated the process involving pressure and heat that occurs naturally in the inner layers of the earth, the process that generates hydrocarbon, the primary component in oil and natural gas.
The degree of accuracy in finding oil is enhanced dramatically – from 20 to 70 percent.
The successful production of complex hydrocarbons with in a completely sterile environment also bring biotic oil deposit theory into serious question. The formation of oil deposits from biota requires lateral migration. That can’t happen according to these new discovered mechanisms.
Hydrocarbon compounds generate in the asthenosphere of the Earth and migrate through the deep faults into the crust of the Earth. There they form oil and gas deposits in any kind of rock in any kind of the structural position (Fig. 2). Thus the accumulation of oil and gas is considered as a part of the natural process of the Earth’s outgrassing, which was in turn responsible for creation of its hydrosphere, atmosphere and biosphere.
(fig. 2)
The most convincing evidence of the above mentioned mechanism of oil and gas deposit formations is the existence of such giant gas fields as Deep Basin, Milk River, and San Juan. They are located in Alberta, Canada, and Colorado, United States. The formation of these giant gas fields questions the existence of any lateral migration of oil and gas during the oil and gas accumulation process.
The discovery of these extremely large and deep deposits actually challenges the theory of biotic petroleum formation, which we have never yet successfully demonstrated.
