Under the Nazi regime coal hydrogenation produced: gasoline, propane, methane, ethylene, natural gas, crude oil, thick lubricants, and butter! Fritz Bergius discovered the process in 1913 which by 1920 had been refined by Dr. Franz Fischer. By 1933 when Hitler came to power coal liquification was a top priority and codenamed Genesis. By 1938 Germany had 12 hydrogenation plants churning out fuel reducing the need for foreign oil greatly. And during WW2 although the Germans seized foreign oil fields in the USSR and Rumania, the Reich relied on synthetics to fight (up to 85% for aviation for instance).In 1945, Genesis was to be smuggled into Switzerland but was intercepted by the US 7th Army. By Feb 1946 a complete German hydrogenation plant was dismantled and reassembled in Brownsville, Texas as a pilot plant to study synthetic production. This lasted 10 years and then the US Army on behalf of the Seven Sisters- the big oil companies seized the data stored at Texas A&M University. They started to buy up vast coal assests. It was determined at that time that the German synthetic fuel would cost $20 a barrel... but b/c standard natural crude was just $3.50 a barrel was buried. Only in the 2000s has Texas A&M recovered the data that was put on microfilm and hidden. The studies of German synthetics from WW2 is STILL going on and the LIE of synthetic fuel research since the 1970s is still perpetuated. The US had the ability to run off coal gasification since the late 1950s with NO DEPENDENCE on foreign oil at all since we have a 300 yr coal supply!!! The Germans also came up with grain alcohol fuels for their rockets long before that was considered for automobiles. AND, they also had chemically-treated wood-burning vehicles in WW2 not reliant on gasoline. KdF Wagens (VW Beetles) ran off such engines as well as military transport.