Blue economy: A new era of petroleum microbiology in a changing climate

The productivity and health of our ocean hold some good solutions to the world’s challenges in socio-economy. However, climate change and waste discharge are changing the marine capacity to buffer human impacts, further challenging the marine industry, primarily in offshore oil and gas, shipping, and fishery operations. These encourage the blue economy, a sustainable development approach to utilize marine resources. Petroleum microbiology dealing with microbes that can respond, degrade, and alter crude oils, offers an unprecedented opportunity to achieve the knowledge- and science-based blue economy. However, the new-era petroleum microbiology for supporting the blue economy has yet to be systematically discussed. This review introduces the climate change impacts on key marine industrial sectors, highlights the critical role of advanced petroleum microbiology in supporting sustainable development, and offers insight into the challenges and future research opportunities in availing of petroleum microbiology for benefiting our marine environment and responsible economic growth.