Well, that's the opportunity -- you can't sell crude oil to just anyone, and most likely no one will buy crude that these kinds of small scales, so a bunch of s

Well, that's the opportunity -- you can't sell crude oil to just anyone, and most likely no one will buy crude that these kinds of small scales, so a bunch of smaller sellers get locked out of the market. A refinery has the process and equipment, but not the crude. And the purchaser potentially pays less than market rates based on difficulty of preparing the crude for refining if it isn't as pure as market rate oil is (because it contains sand, water, other ocean debris). People with ideas on how to clean it up get a chance to try out their ideas, with a possible payout to boot, without having to wait for Big Oil to get around to trying them.