For some time now, a debate has been raging about where oil comes from. Is it really the remnants of decayed marine life? or does the earth produce oil naturally?

There isn't so much a scientific debate from what I've seen as a relative few people challenging the conventional wisdom, using an abiogenic oil thesis. I'm not sure which is right, really.

Since it is possible to create synthectic oils in a lab, then it stands to reason that it might be possible to nature to produce oil underground in the same way. Synthetic oil is basically carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen mixed together. CO2 is pretty abundent in the atmosphere, but who knows if there are the right kinds of materials in the mantle that could facilitate this process...

I certainly think it is possible, especially because of the way oil and NG (also a big part of the debate) are distributed seems pretty strange from a purely biological perspective. I believe that as our sensing power deeper into the crust and the mantle improves, we will eventually be able to settle this debate once and for all.

If you look where oil is found, the land was under ocean waters millions of years ago. The decomposed microscopic particuls left are what made the proper enviroment for oil...