You do realize this is Shell Oil who's doing this research, right? They're not some little outfit focused on experimental technology; rather, they're big enough and have sufficient political connections that (1) they can likely survive just about anything OPEC throws at them, and (2) if they can't, the government will bail them out.
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If you read TFA, you'd know that they believe they've resolved the groundwater-pollution issue.
You do realize this is Shell Oil who's doing this research, right? They're not some little outfit focused on experimental technology; rather, they're big enough and have sufficient political connections that (1) they can likely survive just about anything OPEC throws at them, and (2) if they can't, the government will bail them out.