Fascinating: Scientist find bugs that eat waste and excrete oil

This is fascinating stuff and supposedly it will be "carbon negative" meaning that the carbon released into the atmosphere will be less that that absorbed by the biomaterials that goes into the production of the oil.

I'm not holding my breath on this one but it's a development that will be interesting to watch. Then again it may just be a new version of cold fusion...remember that?

...He means bugs. To be more precise: the genetic alteration of bugs – very, very small ones – so that when they feed on agricultural waste such as woodchips or wheat straw, they do something extraordinary. They excrete crude oil.

Unbelievably, this is not science fiction. Mr Pal holds up a small beaker of bug excretion that could, theoretically, be poured into the tank of the giant Lexus SUV next to us. Not that Mr Pal is willing to risk it just yet. He gives it a month before the first vehicle is filled up on what he calls “renewable petroleum”. After that, he grins, “it’s a brave new world”.