You can either pull oil out of the ground, make plastic of it and bury that plastic, where the decomposition will release greenhouse gases. Or you can burn it

You can either pull oil out of the ground, make plastic of it and bury that plastic, where the decomposition will release greenhouse gases. Or you can burn it and capture the energy. The difference in greenhouse gases isn't big - provided you burn it properly. Except if burning the plastic is a replaceement for buring other kinds of fossil fie, in which case it's a win vs burying it.