Crocetane was first studied[2] in the late 1920s and early 1930s for the structural identification of crocetin, which is its polyunsaturated diacid analogue.

Such low 13C content is thought to originate from microbes harvesting biogenic methane, which is always 13C depleted,[6] as a carbon source.

Crocetane was found in environments with anaerobic methane oxidizing consortium, composed of methanotrophic archea and sulfate-reducing bacteria.

In 2009, Ercin Maslen and her colleagues detected crocetane in highly-mature Devonian sediments and crude oils of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin.

[11] Paul Greenwood and Roger Summons in 2003 reported using GC MS-MS instrument to measure the daughter ion of m/z 196→127/126 and 168→126 to distinguish crocetane from phytane.