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Diamondoids and oil are not forever

Nature volume 399, pages 15–16 (1999)Cite this article

A measure of the amount of oil destroyed by high temperatures deep in the Earth may help to gauge the depths to which oil extraction remains commercially viable, and so be useful in estimating ultimate oil reserves.

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Figure 1: Chemical structures of diamond-like molecules, or diamondoids, found in petroleum.
Figure 2: Diamondoids collected from a gas field in the Gulf of Mexico in which they have accumulated.

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  1. Chevron Research and Technology Company, 100 Chevron Way, PO Box 1627, Richmond, 94802, California, USA

    Martin Schoell & Robert M. K. Carlson

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  1. Martin Schoell
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  2. Robert M. K. Carlson
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Schoell, M., Carlson, R. Diamondoids and oil are not forever. Nature 399, 15–16 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1038/19847

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