A company called LS9 is creating nearly pump-ready oil using single-celled bacteria. They start with industrial yeast organisms or " non-pathogenic strains of E. coli," and redesign their DNA so that they produce a different kind of waste. Crude oil is not far removed, molecularly, from the fatty acids expelled by yeast or E. coli during fermentation, so a little bit of DNA alteration bypasses the fatty acids and produces " Oil 2.0."

The " bugs" can be fed a variety of feedstock, from politically sensitive corn to Brazilian sugar cane to California wheat straw to Southern wood chips. The result is the same: crude oil that is almost ready to pour into your car. What' s more: the enterprise is carbon negative, putting out less CO2 than the operation requires. At the moment it takes a 1,000-liter fermentation machine one week to make a 40-gallon drum of crude.

It will be a moment before they have a seamless industrial-sized operation. And there is that little concern of hundreds of billions of genetically-altered critters getting free and wreaking havoc on kids and puppies. But the promise of a steady supply of safely created $40 oil -- because even the Volt will need oil -- is not a bad thing to consider. Thanks for the tip, Brad!

- Autoblog

I hope this makes it big. I' m sick of hearing about the " oil crisis" which is no more than oil companies raising prices for insane profit when there is still more than enough oil to go around. If this method can be kept out of their hands and manages to grow to a large scale this will force gas prices down around the world.

We were all alright until you fuckers invaded Iraq y' know...

Reminds me of Captain Planet when Hoggish Greedily made a blob that ate garbage, and sold it for $$$...however, the blob ended up eating the entire town.
He would have gotten away with it if it wasn' t for Captain Planet and those meddling planeters.

ORIGINAL: Nitro

We were all alright until you fuckers invaded Iraq y' know...

Yeah, that was a smart comment. Like I said, the " oil crisis" isn' t a crisis at all. Oil companies are just jacking up the prices because they can. They stop drilling on occasion because it decreases stock and they can increase the prices more. That coupled with the rate at which China is growing economically and outbidding other countries for the barrels is causing the price hike. There is a sh*t ton of oil in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico that could be drilled but it' s not being drilled (mainly in part to hippies and environmentalists...). If it was there would be a very large drop in gas prices. Blaming the whole thing on the invasion of Iraq is idiotic.

Reminds me of Captain Planet when Hoggish Greedily made a blob that ate garbage, and sold it for $$$...however, the blob ended up eating the entire town.
He would have gotten away with it if it wasn' t for Captain Planet and those meddling planeters.

LOL!

There is a sh*t ton of oil in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico that could be drilled but it' s not being drilled (mainly in part to hippies and environmentalists...).

Hippies and environmentalists just pretty much rest their balls on the foreheads of conservatives, don' t they?

But here' s some useful contextual info:

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) recently did a detailed study of the likely outcome of offshore drilling for their Annual Energy Outlook 2007, “Impacts of Increased Access to Oil and Natural Gas Resources in the Lower 48 Federal Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).” The sobering conclusion:

The projections in the OCS access case indicate that access to the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf regions would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030.

And the impact of the projected 7% (!) increase in lower-48 oil production that might result in 2030 thanks to opening the OCS is … wait for it …

… any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.

linky

Well there you go. Thanks for the info.

The problem is demand, practically any new city has no public transportation and owning a car is a requirement to live in places like AZ, you don' t get anything done here without a car, there is no alternative.

Demand is too high because Republicans throw us out there with no public services because they rather spend our tax money in Iraq, so we have to fend for ourselves and we need gas. It' s especially obvious in republican-dominated states like AZ.

If they spend 10% of that money on public transportation half of us wouldn' t need cars, demand goes down, prices go down.

We were all alright until you ***ers invaded Iraq y' know

You invaded with us, you silly little (yet huggable) n00b.

It' s especially obvious in republican-dominated states like AZ.

The boss of Arizona is now running for the boss of the USA. He looks like he stores acorns in his cheeks or something. It is interesting how AZ has so frickin' many illegal immigrants at tons of street corners looking for work. Don' t Republicans hate immigrants? Since the Republicans rule over all of Arizona, shouldn' t they have exterminated these illegals already? Damn n00bs.

I blame China.

Slightly off topic:

Canada by the way has the second largest oil supply in the world. The problem is that it' s not nationalized. Alberta is making a killing and in the proccess they' re destabalizing Alberta' s economy and pissing away Canada' s most crucial resource. If Alberta doesn' t slow down and diversify they' re going to dig themselves in a big fucking hole.

A great example a passive government (in this case) permitting rich business to robbing a country and taking a giant shit on a province. Lets eat our cake now and pay for it three times tomorrow.

ORIGINAL: Rampage99

ORIGINAL: Nitro

We were all alright until you fuckers invaded Iraq y' know...

Yeah, that was a smart comment. Like I said, the " oil crisis" isn' t a crisis at all. Oil companies are just jacking up the prices because they can. They stop drilling on occasion because it decreases stock and they can increase the prices more. That coupled with the rate at which China is growing economically and outbidding other countries for the barrels is causing the price hike. There is a sh*t ton of oil in Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico that could be drilled but it' s not being drilled (mainly in part to hippies and environmentalists...). If it was there would be a very large drop in gas prices. Blaming the whole thing on the invasion of Iraq is idiotic.

America invaded Iraq ---> fuel prices increase.

Regardless of the actual politics, ...the war was the catalyst.

The UK produces 80% of it' s own oil, so the " war on terror" obviously isn' t the reason for the hike in costs, but since 2003 there has been a steady increase and right now they' re just ridiculous.

How do you figure that?

The war plays a large component, yes, but I wouldn' t go so far as to call it the catalyst. Prices skyrocketed here post 9/11, not post-Iraq. They shot up from about a buck ten, to a little over five dollars on 9/11, and once the panic wore off, it slipped back down into the high ones, but never really bounced back down to where it started.

The way I see it, there are only two viable alternatives to this. One, the people who are screwing us over, regardless of who they are, will come out, and see the error of their ways...

...and once we all come down from the crack high, the more likely alternative is that supply and demand will fluctuate to the point where stations simply can' t be supplied, and riots ensue, causing a major change in the oil industry.

I like the latter, if only because riots get things done.

I can' t say for other countries, but prices here have only increased since 2003.

That would make sense. Your country wasn' t part of Operation Enduring Freedom, I don' t think. You guys were in ' Stan with NATO, but not in an abnormally large presence, and didn' t get any major troop deployment till Iraq.

I can' t say for other countries, but prices here have only increased since 2003.

In case you guys didn' t know i am from the Caribbean.
We produce our own oil used mainly for exporting, but Yes, gas prices has increased tremendously since the " War on Terrorism" and did increase after 9/11 too.

All it is, is the oil companies preying on people' s fears. When the gulf war happened several gas stations in the Detroit area were shut down for price gouging. I mean, people were lined up around the block, as if gas was going to run out. So they started charging whatever the hell they wanted. This whole new thing is just like that, only on a much more grand scale.

ORIGINAL: Joe Redifer
It is interesting how AZ has so frickin' many illegal immigrants at tons of street corners looking for work. Don' t Republicans hate immigrants? Since the Republicans rule over all of Arizona, shouldn' t they have exterminated these illegals already? Damn n00bs.

Yeah, they do. Never heard of the maricopa county police department/sherif? They are notorious nationwide for doing borderline illegal things to get rid of immigrants. The sherif sounds like a member of the KKK.

They do a pretty good job, I haven' t seen mexicans looking for work on the streets for a long time. But they' re still around in the poorer areas, which I don' t frequent because I' m not poor.

AZ also has the highest anti-immigrant border patrol volunteers/associations.

They do a pretty good job, I haven' t seen mexicans looking for work on the streets for a long time.

Apparently you haven' t been to Home Depot. I swear, thats the biggest mexican stereotype, but every time I go to Home Depot they' re all over the place looking for work.

All it is, is the oil companies preying on people' s fears. When the gulf war happened several gas stations in the Detroit area were shut down for price gouging.

That hasn' t changed since you left. Gas stations were charging up to $10 a gallon after 9/11 and the 2003 blackout.

ORIGINAL: mastachefbkw

They do a pretty good job, I haven' t seen mexicans looking for work on the streets for a long time.

Apparently you haven' t been to Home Depot. I swear, thats the biggest mexican stereotype, but every time I go to Home Depot they' re all over the place looking for work.

Not at any home depots within a 100 mil radius of where I live.

ORIGINAL: Nitro

I can' t say for other countries, but prices here have only increased since 2003.

Nitro your forgetting the Politics of Assholes. Look at what those old farts in London do, give themselves pay rises. This oil crisis is down to greed, shell post profits of what $3.3 Billion whilst this is all going on. The chairman of Shell gave him something like a 30-40% bonus last fiscal. Growth of other countries is a bearing yes, the war on terrorism is a bearing yes, but c' mon guys lets break this down to the bare facts here, it' s down to greed.

That coupled with the Govt. greed as well, screws the man in the street.