C-14 and Petroleum

["Cook, Lew (LCOO)" <LCOO@chevron.com>]

Most (all?) petroleum deposits will have zero C-14. They are millions of
years old. The C-14, present in the atmosphere when the organisms that were
the source for the oil were alive, has all decayed. Any C-14 present in
petroleum would come from contamination with recent materials. 

I participated in an investigation of methane in the ground near a garbage
dump -er, landfill - which was near a gas field. The gas field was ruled out
as the source of the methane as the methane in the ground had essentially
modern levels of C-14. Note, however, that in the case of near surface
buried oil products, the C-14 will be deficient in the methane produced by
the biodegradation of the oil.

Lew
510 242-7040
lcoo@chevron.com


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