Yeah, if it takes energy to make oil then dunno at least its portable/storable energy and could be made by Nuclear, solar, or hydro. There is no real cheap good way to store large amounts of easily usable energy. If it can't make money then its not going to survive. But at the volumes of oil we consume and plastic trash we generate it only has to break even or even operate at a small cost (wait) its a huge benefit to the environment.
I don't think any landfill operates on a trash generated profit. They make money on collections don't they. Then some are a ticking time bombs for a superfund clean up.
It would take many angles to see the overall cost vs benefit and I am not sure what all is taken into the number crunching (depends on your side). I know I pay the county for trash collections/landfill (and some I don't think are long term safe and then there is NIMBY) and if that doesn't change or goes down plus the benefit of less enviromental impact then I am all for it. I am not entirely sure how the oil industry makes so much money at such a small profit margin downstream. Don't many gas stations make more money on conveince items than on the sale of gas/oil.
I do wonder if its some type of alchemist dream but I do see benefits to the research one day there might be a combination that really works. There are some reclaim/recycle streams that are working economically.
