Man, keep in mind patent law. If oil companies develop an efficient version of the tech first, it could prevent more savory groups from building things out.

On the other hand, the Department of Energy person made good sense. We tried fighting the oil companies, and it didn't work. We shouldn't keep trying the same strategy and expecting things to change after they haven't worked.

But yeah, it's just going into more fracking. Would the sequestered CO2 be less than that generated by the new oil? I somehow doubt it.

I think best case, the oil companies develop the tech but can't patent it for some reason, then we get mass production as a standalone industry such that the new oil doesn't matter. Maybe likely case is that oil companies develop the tech, patent it, then make profit of the government using it to fix their climate mess. Sounds like an oil exec strategy to me