Hard Sci-Fi Lovers discussion

hey, does anyone recall a book or story about settlers colonizing a new planet that never had animal life, so it never had oil or other hydrocarbons. it may have metals and elements, but no hydrocarbons. and part of the story is dealing without those components. Anyone?

You can read my book "Merimnae: Inbound", which is the second of three (so far) in the Merimnae saga. Available on Amazon and Apple. Author: William Altmann. The story checks all the boxes in your query, and adds how metals play an important role.....
Merimnae: Inbound

I've just published the paperback edition of Book Four of "The Merimnae Saga"! It's on Amazon. I will be adding eBook and probably Apple eBook in the coming days.

It would require no life at all, not just no animal life.
https://energyeducation.ca/encycloped...
I wonder if there are purely geological mechanisms possible on relatively exotic planets where hydrocarbon deposits might form from solely mineral sources of hydrogen and carbon (which would definitely be present on any rocky world, life or no).