Synthetic petroleum--what's the story?

I remember reading that in WW2, the German military effort would have failed much earlier if they had not developed a method of synthesizing petroleum. The alternate fuels research of the 70’s tried to develop similar methods but apparently weren’t successful. Were the German methods lost or just weren’t cost effective? Has there been any further research into this field, and has it made any progress?

Didn’t the South Africans synthesise oil from coal?

Read all about it here: