Renewable resources (hydrocarbons)

While many countries are already embarked upon large-scale cultivation of sugar- and starch-for-alcohol crops to augment their ever-increasingly expensive imports of petroleum products, studies are also being widely conducted on the possible use of hydrocarbon-producing plants. However labour-intensive such enterprises may be, they have the advantage of directly supplying fuel and chemicals; they are less competitive with food crops, and may be viable in desert or semi-arid areas.