Oil Processing

Oil opens Epoch 3. You pump Crude Oil from Oil Wells, split it into Heavy Oil, Light Oil and Petroleum Gas, and turn those into plastic, sulfur, acid, batteries and fuel. Everything starts with the research Oil Processing.

Oil Wells

Oil Wells are single blocks in the world with tar on top. The world map marks each one with a turquoise dot. You cannot mine or remove them; you build an Oil Pumpjack on top.

Buildings

	Oil Pumpjack	Oil Processor	Chemical Plant
Epoch	3	3	3
Unlocked by	Oil Processing	Oil Processing	Oil Processing
Size	3 × 3	5 × 5	4 × 3
Energy	90 kW electric	420 kW electric	210 kW electric
Speed	10 Crude Oil/s on a fresh well	1	1
Module slots	–	3	3
Recipe	5 Steel Plate + 10 Iron Gear + 5 Electronic Circuit + 10 Pipe T2	15 Steel Plate + 10 Iron Gear + 10 Electronic Circuit + 10 Pipe T2 + 10 Stone Brick	5 Steel Plate + 5 Iron Gear + 5 Electronic Circuit + 5 Pipe T2

• Oil Pumpjack: place it so that one of its blocks stands over an Oil Well. It needs power. The outlet is a stub on the right side, toward the front. A well gets weaker the more you pump: after 2 million units it delivers 60 %, but it never drops below 20 % and never runs dry.
• Oil Processor: Crude Oil enters on the left side toward the back, Water on the left side toward the front. Heavy Oil, Light Oil and Petroleum Gas each leave through their own stub on the front side.
• Chemical Plant: two fluid inputs at the back, one fluid output on the side, plus item slots like a Fabricator. Use opens the window where you pick the recipe.

Crude Oil, Heavy Oil, Light Oil, Petroleum Gas and Lubricant need at least Pipe T2. Sulfuric Acid needs Reinforced Pipes. See Fluids.

Byproducts must flow away

A machine stops as soon as any of its output tanks is full, and shows the "Tank Full" icon. With Advanced Oil Processing this matters: if you only use Petroleum Gas, the Heavy Oil and Light Oil back up and the whole refinery stops. Give every product a way out:

• crack Heavy Oil into Light Oil and Light Oil into Petroleum Gas,
• turn Heavy Oil into Lubricant or Asphalt, and Light Oil into Solid Fuel,
• or buffer the surplus in Storage Tanks.

Oil Processor recipes

Times are at speed 1.

Recipe	Unlocked by	Input	Output	Time
Basic Oil Processing	Oil Processing	100 Crude Oil	45 Petroleum Gas	5 s
Advanced Oil Processing	Advanced Oil Processing	100 Crude Oil + 50 Water	25 Heavy Oil + 45 Light Oil + 55 Petroleum Gas	5 s

Chemical Plant recipes

Product	Unlocked by	Input	Output	Time
Heavy Oil cracking	Advanced Oil Processing	40 Heavy Oil + 30 Water	30 Light Oil	2 s
Light Oil cracking	Advanced Oil Processing	30 Light Oil + 30 Water	20 Petroleum Gas	2 s
Lubricant	Advanced Oil Processing	10 Heavy Oil	10 Lubricant	1 s
Solid Fuel	Advanced Oil Processing	10 Light Oil	1 Solid Fuel	2 s
Plastic Bar	Plastics	20 Petroleum Gas + 1 Coal	2 Plastic Bar	1 s
Sulfur	Sulfur Processing	30 Petroleum Gas + 30 Water	2 Sulfur	1 s
Sulfuric Acid	Sulfur Processing	5 Sulfur + 1 Iron Plate + 100 Water	50 Sulfuric Acid	1 s
Battery	Batteries	20 Sulfuric Acid + 1 Iron Plate + 1 Copper Plate	1 Battery	4 s
Asphalt	Asphalt	10 Heavy Oil + 2 Stone	2 Asphalt	2 s
Silicon	Silicon Processing	3 Sand + 1 Coal	1 Silicon	2 s
Explosives	Explosives	1 Sulfur + 1 Coal + 10 Water	2 Explosives	4 s
Fuel Canister	Flamethrower	10 Light Oil + 1 Iron Plate	5 Fuel Canister	2 s
Rune Slate	Rune Etching	1 Stone Brick + 2 Gold Wire + 5 Sulfuric Acid	1 Rune Slate	3 s

Lubricant also comes earlier, without oil: a Fabricator T2 makes 10 Lubricant from 5 Tallow and 10 Water (research Tallow Rendering, Epoch 2).

What the products are for

• Solid Fuel: the best fuel, 12 MJ per piece (Coal has 4 MJ).
• Plastic Bar: Advanced Circuit (2 Electronic Circuit + 2 Plastic Bar + 4 Copper Cable in a Fabricator, research Advanced Electronics), Low Density Frame, Reinforced Pipe T1.
• Sulfuric Acid: Batteries, Rune Slate, Processing Unit, and mining Uranium Ore (see Nuclear Power).
• Battery: Storage Cell (see Power), fuel for the Rune Tank.
• Asphalt: Asphalt Floor (see Floors and Landfill).
• Lubricant: Electric Engine.
• Light Oil: the Flame Tower burns it straight from a pipe (see Defense).

Moving oil by train

A Fluid Wagon carries 25,000 units of one fluid. Pipes or a Fluid Pump next to the wagon fill and empty it while the train waits at a station. That is how you bring oil from remote wells to your refinery.

See also

• Fluids
• Fabricators
• Railways
• Rune Modules