Sounds entirely plausible to me. However, this statement:
...makes me cringe. Nothing can produce more energy than it consumes - to do so would violate the First Law of Thermodynamics.It will use more energy than it produces. (Quite the opposite.)
A more scientifically correct explanation would be that Mr. Buskis' process converts the stored chemical energy of any carbon-based substance into a form that humans can then use to do work.
Still, no mention is made of what the cost per barrel of oil is using that process - there are an almost infinite number of exotic technologies that can produce oil, but not a single one of them is going to be economically viable until the crude oil futures price is higher than whatever the cost of the technology is.