To Oil or Not to Oil

[Thorne]

Found it! Thomas_Gold. A rather brilliant individual who liked to shake things up. While frequently called a crackpot, was just as frequently found to be correct.

Apparently not, in this case. It seems this hypothesis has been discredited. I don't claim to be a geologist but what little I remember of my chemistry and astronomy, the idea of complex hydrocarbons forming in this way is unlikely. Simple compounds, such as methane and ethane, have been detected in space, of course, but I haven't found anything about much more complex compounds.