The main author of the theory of the abiogenous origin of oil, Nikolai Kudryaevtsev, spent decades fighting the "geological elite," proving that oil comes from non-biological sources of carbon and hydrogen deep in the Earth's crust and mantle. He received years in camps for his work, but the concept became popular worldwide and eventually changed the established view of the future of mankind.
According to the theory of the famous philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn, the development of science is not a gradually evolving process of knowledge accumulation on the way to the truth, but a phenomenon passing through periodic revolutions, called in his terminology "paradigm shifts." "When paradigms change, the world itself changes with them," he said. By paradigm, the scientist understood the source of the methods, problem situations, and solution standards accepted by the scientific community at the current moment.
Geographer Alexander von Humboldt and Dmitri Mendeleev were the first to question the origin of oil from the decay products of ancient living organisms and vegetation. The famous chemist believed that during mountain building processes through the cracks and fractures in the Earth's crust, water penetrates deep into the Earth, where it meets with iron carbides. As a result, iron oxides and hydrocarbons, such as ethane, are formed under the influence of ambient temperatures and pressure. The resulting substances rise through the same faults into the upper layers of the Earth's crust and saturate the porous rocks. This is how gas and oil deposits are formed.
Despite the fact that Mendeleev confirmed his theory in the laboratories, many geologists of the time refuted it, and Dmitri Ivanovich did not initiate that very "paradigm shift" in questions of oil origin. Then the "neogranics" continued to accumulate facts and reasoning, but for a long time was inferior in popularity to the generally accepted organic concept. The scientist who was able to break this barrier and overcome dogmatism in petroleum geology was Nikolai Alexandrovich Kudryavtsev.
He was born on October 21, 1893 in the town of Opochka, Velikolukskaya oblast. His father was a merchant and came from a wealthy family. He traveled extensively throughout Europe, trying not to deny himself and his offspring anything. Nikolai received a brilliant gymnasium education, from childhood he was engaged in tennis, horseback riding and photography.
In 1911, Nikolai enrolled at the St. Petersburg Mining Institute, at the Geological Exploration Department. His teachers were the founder of the Paleontological Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Alexey Borisyak; the rector of the institute and head of the Geolkom Dmitry Mushketov; the founder of petrochemistry, Alexander Zavaritsky; and the chairman of the State Commission on Mineral Reserves, Nikolai Svitalsky. Undoubtedly, high integrity in scientific matters and confidence in his judgments was originally fostered in him by scientists of this level.
During the First World War, Nikolai Alexandrovich served in Kiev, and from the beginning of the October Revolution, in the first department of the 2nd Military Construction Administration in Petrograd. He returned to his alma mater only in 1920. In the same year the young man went to work at the Geological Committee. It was the best school for geologists: science ruled there, and young employees were surrounded by the attention of senior colleagues. Thus, Kudryavtsev worked in geological crews, under the direction of the legendary Ivan Gubkin and Stefan Czarnocki, who later became president of the Polish Geological Society.
The whole research way of Nikolay Aleksandrovich can be divided into two periods: empirical and fundamental.
The first one was devoted to accumulation of experience and solution of a variety of issues of petroleum geology, most often regional practical problems related to oil bearing capacity of one or another area. It lasted about 25 years, and during this period the scientist successfully carried out geological works in the Northern Caucasus, Central Asia, Sakhalin, Transcaucasia, Western Siberia, Baltic States, Leningrad Region and in the Northwest regions of our country.
For example, in 1924 the young specialist worked in the Black Mountains, south of Grozny. There he mapped in detail the area of Tash-Kala, identifying a favorable oil-bearing structure and recommending it for deep drilling. The wells drilled after the Great Patriotic War produced rich oil fountains. At present this field plays an important role in the total production of Grozneft. The mining engineer's positive forecast, like many others, was confirmed.
In 1926, Nikolai Alexandrovich became Secretary of the Oil Section of the Geolkom, which indicates the full recognition of the older generation of Kudryavtsev as an experienced petroleum geologist.
In 1929 he became one of the founders of the All-Union Petroleum Research Institute (at present VNIGRI), established on the basis of the Petroleum Section of the Geolkom. Among all the geologists who joined the new structure, he occupied a leading position and was often appointed head of expeditions.
For the first time in his works Nikolay Aleksandrovich casually mentioned the genesis of oil back in the 30s. He doubted the presence of the oil-maternal formations for the area of Georgia he studied and, studying the prospects of oil-bearingness of Mesozoic deposits, wrote about the formation of oil in them that this question is far from being clear. At a time when all the scientists of the country were blindly convinced in the biogenic hypothesis of the formation of hydrocarbons, he stressed that other theories, especially the inorganic one, should not be overlooked. He wondered whether oil, like mud volcanoes, was not related to the deep interior of the Earth.
Gradually this thought began to resound more and more clearly in his speeches and articles. Kudryavtsev revived the long-forgotten Mendeleev hypothesis and modified it at a much higher level. His bold revision of the view of oil as an organic substance and assertion of its underlying nature caused a wave of indignation among geologists who held administrative positions in research institutes and line ministries. Recognition of his ideas would have meant for them the collapse of authority in the sense of the attitudes they had given in the direction of prospecting and exploration for oil and gas. One of the main opponents of the theory was Ivan Gubkin, then head of Soyuzgeologorazvedka and director of the Institute of Combustible Minerals of the USSR Academy of Sciences. This situation was becoming dangerous for geology officials - Kudryavtsev's ideas had to be neutralized.
In the 1930s, Nikolai Alexandrovich was repressed as an enemy of the people. There is no information about this in most accounts of the scientist's biography. He spent several years in Stalin's camps, and even after his release he was long forbidden to reside in the country's major cities.
However, this not only did not break the will of the mining engineer, but also strengthened it.
When the Great Patriotic War began Kudryavtsev was already in Leningrad. In July 1941 he was sent by the institute to Ufa, then to Kokchetav. In 1944 at the call of the Ministry he moved to Moscow, and in 1946 - to Leningrad.
Over the years he accumulated a huge amount of factual material on the peculiarities of the structure of almost every oil-bearing region of the USSR. In-depth knowledge made the framework of regional studies close. Thus began the second period of Kudryavtsev's scientific activity, characterized by the transition to serious theoretical research.
Kudryavtsev created his magmatic hypothesis of the origin of oil. He argued that in the Earth's mantle under pressure and at high temperature, radicals CH, CH2 and CH3 are formed from carbon and hydrogen. They move in the substance of the mantle from the region of high pressure to the region of low pressure. Rising into the crustal layers, the hydrocarbons in the less heated zones react with each other and with hydrogen to form oil. The resulting fluid can then travel both vertically and horizontally through fractures in the rock and accumulate in traps.
In addition to the problem of the origin of oil, Nikolai Alexandrovich studied in detail the patterns of spatial distribution of oil in the section and deduced an important law of vertical distribution of oil fluids. He drew a clear picture of the formation of oil and gas deposits and drew attention to the fact that many deposits are found under the zones of deep faults in the Earth's crust. "Deep faults not only create favorable structures for the accumulation of oil and gas, but are also the pathways by which the processes of migration of hydrocarbons from the deep bowels of the Earth take place."
In the 50's he collected and summarized a huge geological material on the oil and gas fields of the world. His own conclusions, data on geological patterns of structure, occurrence and location of deposits did not allow Nikolai Alexandrovich to deviate from progressive views on the genesis of oil. Only a scientific revolution, that very "paradigm shift" was left!
Breaking his own fate and career (including his already agreed election to the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and awarding him the honorary title of Honored Worker of Science and Technology of the RSFSR, rejected after his public recognition of the endogenous genesis of oil), he uncompromisingly and crushingly criticized the canons of organic doctrine. In 1951, two events occurred that marked the beginning of a fierce struggle: Kudryavtsev's presentation "On the Magmatic Origin of Oil" at Leningrad University and the publication of the article "Against the Organic Hypothesis of Oil Origin" in Neftyanoye Obozreniye. He noted that the erroneous establishment of patterns of deposit formation inevitably led to erroneous prospecting and exploration. In the circles of petroleum geologists, this caused a resonance like a bomb going off.
The task of his opponents was to prevent the general public from becoming aware of these views. Kudryavtsev was deprived of the possibility to publish his works, and all his works written before 1951 were withdrawn from print and libraries. Despite regular meetings at VNIGRI and the Ministry of Petroleum Industry devoted to criticizing Nikolai Alexandrovich, more and more colleagues, especially among young scientists and students, listened to his hypothesis and found it the only correct one.
The innovator passed away in 1971, and all twenty years between that report and his passing were equally challenging and fruitful for Kudryavtsev. He fought and was heard. Gradually he was allowed to speak at conferences and publish, and not only in his home country.
"Black gold" has been called "the lifeblood of the economy," and the debate about its origins lasts to this day. The main point of contention is not even the nature of oil itself, but the speed with which hydrocarbon reserves are recovered. According to the organic theory, they will be exhausted "in the very near future". And although proponents of the abiogenic hypothesis, led by Nikolai Kudryavtsev, proved that the process of oil formation is constant, there are still those who seek to revise the scientific results.
The price of strategic decisions in the energy supply of the whole world and, accordingly, in the balance of power between producing and consuming countries is too high.
In the U.S. for more than 50 years the idea (the theory of geophysicist King Hubbert) of peak oil and inevitable decline in production has been popularized. In Russia, thanks to Nikolay Kurdyavtsev, the abiogenic concept dominates.