I would agree that a high-quality synthetic oil would be petro-free (aside from the obvious packaging, powering, transportation, etc... inherent with all products) and would be much more cost-effective than the little bike bottles.

I recently switched my fixie from the Dupont spray above to some Motul gear oil I had left over from my car days - solely because it runs much quieter. The downside is it probably requires more frequent cleaning.

As mentioned though, the key is the base. Motul oils are a 100% synthetic esther base. Many of the lower-end "synthetics" (Catrol Syntec comes to mind) are nothing more than reformulated dino oils. There were some court battles over the naming at one point, but the courts ruled on a VERY broad interpretation of synthetic.

Anyway, I'm not an oil geek, although I absorbed some of the information when I was a car/track guy.

My main point would be that if you're going to use a straight oil like this, it's simply more cost-effective to use something that's not bike-specific - and it would meet your needs. I've been doing my best to avoid **** seed oil (canola) for some time now, and wouldn't feel any better about putting it on my bike.