British scientists prospecting the world’s deep-sea basins for oil have discovered that the same technique can be applied to catch drug cheats in sport.

The innovative steroid test developed by researchers at Imperial College, London, and the University of Nottingham uses a process known as hydropyrolysis to detect levels of drugs in urine accurately.

World anti-doping chiefs, who have given $225,000 this year to fund trials, hope the test will represent the biggest breakthrough in the fight against performance-enhancing substances. It is expected to be ready for commercial use at the London Olympics in 2012.

The new test enables anti-doping officials to tell the difference between naturally occurring human steroids and those injected into athletes and racehorses to boost performance.

Steroids produced naturally in the body have a heavier carbon content than synthetic substances but, until now, it has been difficult to measure the different carbon ratios.

Hydropyrolysis, which is most commonly used to aid oil exploration by freeing small fragments of organic matter from petroleum rock sources, is a step forward because it allows forensic scientists to separate carbon molecules without corrupting the original sample.

The inaccuracy of the current steroid test, caused by less sophisticated extraction methods, offers a grey area for drug cheats to hide.

Athletes caught by a positive test can, and do, argue that the test was flawed or that the steroids were naturally occurring as a result of something they ate or drank.

The new test leaves no room for conjecture, according to Mark Sephton, a meteorite specialist at Imperial, who chanced upon the discovery after a casual conversation two years ago with Nottingham’s Colin Snape, a hydropyrolysis expert helping oil firms to assess whether to drill for oil in ocean beds.

Professor Sephton made the connection to the sports industry because he had worked with the agriculture ministry in the late 90s on ways to detect steroids in cattle by breaking down the molecular structure of carbon.

“This is unequivocal because the original carbon signature shines through. The carbon-based secrets of steroids are now apparent,” he said. “In future, it will be much more difficult to escape detection when using performance-enhancing steroids. You are what you eat plus a little bit of what you might inject.”

The scientists are working with Strata Technology, a London-based specialit in high-pressure hydrolysis equipment, to commercialise the technique.

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), which defines the list of banned substances in sport, is funding another year of research before the test hits the market. The test is also attracting attention from archaeologists for refining carbon-dating processes.

Athletics and cycling are sports badly hit by drugs scandals as the commercial rewards for success get bigger. The Tour de France virtually collapsed last year after Michael Rasmussen, the leader, was thrown out by his team for lying about why he missed drug tests. Floyd Landis, the American winner in 2006, was stripped of his title after being found to have used performance-enhancing substances.

British athletics has been plagued by the controversy surrounding Dwain Chambers, the sprinter who admitted taking banned steroids but who has come back after a two-year ban. He is representing Britain at the world indoor championships this weekend.

How it works

— In hydropyrolysis, a stream of high-pressure hydrogen is made to bombard the sample at pressures of 150 atmospheres and at temperatures of up to 500C (932F)

— This process strips the steroid molecules – which are made up of carbon 12 (light carbons) and carbon 13 (heavy carbons) – down to their pure carbon “skeleton” for analysis

— The carbon isotopes are then measured to show whether they have been produced naturally or instead have been made synthetically