Fact Check: US industrialist JD Rockefeller did not pay scientists to term oil ‘fossil fuel’ to set a price for it
Fossil fuels are a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, natural gas, crude oil, petroleum product
Claim :
JD Rockefeller paid scientists to call oil ‘Fossil fuel’ to induce the idea of scarcity, and oil regenerates faster on earth than it gets depletedFact :
Scientists coined the term ‘Fossil Fuel’ in 1759. Crude oil takes millions of years to generate
Fossil fuels are a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, natural gas, crude oil, petroleum products, and other non-renewable wastes. Fossil fuels originate from plants and animals that existed in the past, these are the major energy sources of modern life. Fossil fuels have been a major source for transportation, electricity production, etc. All fossil fuels can be burned in air or with oxygen derived from air to provide heat. This heat may be employed directly, as in the case of home furnaces, or used to produce steam to drive generators that can supply electricity.
Meanwhile, a message along with a video is in circulation on different social media claiming that American industrialist JD Rockefeller paid scientists to call oil ‘Fossil Fuel’ to induce the idea of scarcity among the common people so as to set a price on oil. The posts also claim that the oil is the second most prevalent liquid on earth, next to water, and regenerates within the earth faster than it can ever be depleted.”
Some users shared the video with the caption like “Every time you hear the term 'fossil fuel' on the TV, radio, news, etc, you're being lied to.” The video goes on to claim that the term was coined by the scientists under the influence of Rockefeller, as the oil contains carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen molecules. But the oil has not been generated by fossils.”
Some users shared the same video with the caption “Every time you hear the term 'fossil fuel' on the TV, radio, news, etc, you're being lied to.In 1892, at the Geneva Convention, the smartest man in the oil industry, J.D. Rockefeller, paid scientists to call oil a 'fossil fuel' to induce the idea of scarcity, in order to set a 'world price for oil'. The truth is that oil is actually the second-most prevalent liquid on earth next to water, and regenerates within the earth faster than it can ever be depleted. Fuel was free once, but Rothschild and BlackRock scam people..”
Here is the archive link of the claim.
Fact Check:
The claim is False. Firstly, when we searched about the term ‘Fossil Fuel’, we found that the term was coined by a German chemist, Caspar Neumann, not American Industrialist JD Rockefeller. We can find this in the index of the English translation of the 1759 book “The Chemical Works of Caspar Neumann”. We can find the relevant information about this here.
JD Rockefeller was born in 1839 and founded the Standard Oil Company in 1870. While it is true that the industrialist earned money using oil, he did not coin the term ‘Fossil Fuel’ to drive up the price.
According to several articles published, fossil fuels are combustibles of ancient biological origin, preserved in rock. It takes millions of years for these fossils to turn into oil and gas deposits.
An article published on Powells.com states that petroleum does not originate with the earth’s largest organisms; it begins with its smallest. Most of the biomass in any ecosystem is contained within the bodies of its humblest members, the ones way down near the base of the food chain. In the oceans, that’s phytoplankton, also known as microalgae. These microscopic organisms, mostly diatoms and dinoflagellates, are wondrously able to turn starlight into food. Through photosynthesis, they produce proteins, fats, and carbohydrates — complex carbon-based molecules. Like most tiny organisms, their generations turn over rapidly. When they expire, their minuscule bodies rain down upon the sea floor, where they form organic oozes that may be miles thick. If these biogenic deposits are buried by younger sediments and cooked by heat and pressure in just the right way, oil and natural gas may form.
The scientists state that the oil and gas we use today were formed by the decay of the microscopic plants and animals that lived in the ocean millions of years ago. As these plants and animals died, they fell to the bottom of the ocean and formed layer after layer of sediment covered by sand and mud. In some areas where there is little tidal movement, such as lakes or seas, the plants and animals begin to decay in the absence of oxygen. As the layers build up, the weight increases and the sediment is pushed further down, which increases both the temperature and pressure. With all of these factors combined, the decayed plants and animals form oil and gas deposits.
The same claim was debunked by several fact-checking organisations like Reuters, Full Fact, stating that the claim is baseless and false.
Therefore, the claim that the American Industrialist JD Rockefeller paid money to scientists to call oil a ‘Fossil fuel’ to induce the idea of scarcity, and that oil regenerates faster on earth than it gets depleted is False.
