Apparently, some company in Silicon Valley has created a freako super-bug that can eat wood chips and crap oil.
They take yeast or E. Coli and do some genetic hoopijoob to them and whaddya know, the bugs poop out oil. The article says,
Because crude oil (which can be refined into other products, such as petroleum or jet fuel) is only a few molecular stages removed from the fatty acids normally excreted by yeast or E. coli during fermentation, it does not take much fiddling to get the desired result.
The article also says they don't want to use corn because the Mexicans get all mad and rioty and stuff when tortilla prices get too high.
These guys think that they can produce oil for as cheap as $50 a barrel. More power to 'em. Maybe in the future, we can use the bug poop gas to power our personal airplanes!