Newly identified microbe has the potential to transform oil to gas

An oil seep is a natural leak of crude oil and gas that rises up from fractures in the seafloor. When these hydrocarbons leak out onto the sediment surface, they can support highly diverse habitats in the darkest part of the ocean.  Even deep in the sediment, where no oxygen exists, hydrocarbons provide an important energy source for subsurface microbes, such as archaea. A new study led by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology has identified a microbe, an archaeon named Methanoliparia, that has …