A modern "philosopher's stone" to turn base metals into gold!

"Living better through chemistry"

Well, we can all hope so.  It's a better bet than ethanol

Questions I would ask include:

To what extent are surfactants already used to help with oil extraction?

Is its use expensive?

Is it difficult to recover the oil from the water emulsion with current surfactants?

For what it's worth, the Dutch for a few years now have had oil paints with no solvents other than water and a little propylene glycol. Factory makes trad oil paint, removes and reuses solvent, adds water. I'm told surfactants are part of what makes it work. Works great. Pricey.
Water-based oil paints are as close as your local art store. I've not tried them, but they've been on the market for years. And they're pricey because all oil paints are pricey. My suggestion - paint like Whistler, lots of thin washes.