A meme posted by a New Zealand Facebook user claims oil is regenerated within the earth faster than it is depleted by human extraction.
The claim is incorrect. Experts told AAP FactCheck oil is created over millions of years and cannot be formed faster than it is extracted from the earth.
At the time of publication, the post (screenshot here) from July 5 had more than 60,000 views and was shared more than 1200 times.
The meme titled, ‘No Fossils in Fossil Fuels’, has been shared widely on Facebook – examples are here, here and here.
“The truth is oil is the 2nd most prevalent liquid on earth next to water and regenerates within the earth faster than it could ever be depleted,” text on the meme reads.
Oil is formed when organic material sinks to the bottom of lakes and shallow seas and is buried under layers of sediment. The organic material gradually becomes compressed and turns into sedimentary rock.
Associate Professor Kathryn Amos, head of the Australian School of Petroleum at the University of Adelaide, told AAP FactCheck the temperature and pressure of this environment causes the organic molecules of the rock to change, which eventually creates hydrocarbons – such as oil and gas.
Dr Amos explained that the hydrocarbons are then expelled from the sedimentary rock and move upward through porous spaces and the natural fracture networks of surrounding rocks. Eventually oil will either leak out at the surface of the earth or become trapped in reservoir rock.
“That process...
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