So what's the hold-up?
During World War II, Hitler powered his panzers with fuel made from coal.
During the apartheid embargo, South Africa generated electricity this way. When I worked for an oil company in the '70s and '80s, we had a government-subsidized fuel from coal plant on the back lot. Just what is the problem with this technology? Even if it is economically unfeasible now, it is certainly technically possible. Waiting until oil runs out to develop it on an industrial scale doesn't sound like good economics to me.