OPENWORLD
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Mining & resources

How to find oil and bring it home

Oil sits in black lenses under a roof of shale, mostly in the plains. You dig down, break in and scoop it with a bucket.

In short

  • Oil lies in lenses sealed under a roof of shale. A giant oil lode is about 30 to 42 m under the ground, in the plains and gentle land, away from the mountains.
  • Each world has one oil lode between 400 m and 6 km from your start, and 8 more over the planet. Small oil pockets, 25 to 120 m down, are scattered on top.
  • Nothing shows on the surface and no old mine leads to oil: you have to dig.
  • Scoop it with a bucket: left click on still oil. A full bucket is 64 voxels, one cubic metre, and burns for 20 s in a fuel slot.
On this page
  1. Where does oil lie?
  2. What do I need?
  3. How do I reach the oil?
  4. How do I scoop it and carry it?
  5. What is oil for?
  6. Questions

Where does oil lie?

There are two kinds of oil deposits, both on Earth only (the Moon has none). The giant oil lode is a lens roughly 80 to 140 m across, with its centre 30 to 42 m under the ground. Each world has one between 250 m and 1.5 km of its start, and 8 more over the planet, always in the lowlands: plains and gentle land, away from mountain ranges and volcanoes. On top of those, small oil pockets lie scattered across the land: lenses 20 to 60 m across, centred 25 to 120 m down, one cell in five or six, but never under volcanic provinces or high mountains. Dry land has more of them.

What do I need?

A pickaxe to dig, torches, and a bucket: three iron ingots in a V in the crafting grid.

How do I reach the oil?

  1. 1

    Walk to the plains

    Oil lodes lie in the lowlands. The nearest one is between 400 m and 6 km from the place where you started.

  2. 2

    Dig down 30 to 42 m

    There is no boulder and no mine to follow, and nothing shows on the surface. A cave or a ravine gets you down faster: oil can fill part of a cave. The oil is sealed under a roof of shale.

  3. 3

    Break in with care

    Once the roof is open, oil runs out of the lens: up to 5 voxels from a source, slowly. Never stand in it: in any liquid you drown, 20 s of air and then 8 points of health a second.

How do I scoop it and carry it?

  1. 1

    Aim at still oil

    Hold the empty bucket and aim at the pool itself. Only still oil (a source) can be taken. Oil that is flowing answers: Only still liquid can be taken.

  2. 2

    Left click

    Standing, you take every source of the aligned 1 m cube you aim at, up to 64 voxels. Crouching, you take one voxel. Nothing is made out of nothing: the lens loses what you take.

  3. 3

    Read the level

    The icon and the name show how full the bucket is: Bucket of oil (50 %). A bucket holds one liquid at a time and refuses another.

  4. 4

    Carry it

    A full bucket takes one slot each. Empty buckets stack by 16, so bring plenty.

What is oil for?

  • Fuel: a bucket of oil in the fuel slot of a machine burns for 20 s when full, a little longer than a cubic metre of coal (15 s). The bucket comes back empty.
  • Refining: pour oil into the refinery with a bucket (right click). It splits each cubic metre into kerosene, petrol, diesel, natural gas and tar, or makes plastic. Kerosene becomes the rockets' RP-1. See how to refine oil.
  • Storage: right click a tank with a bucket to pour oil in, or to fill the bucket from it.

Questions

Is there oil near my starting point?

Yes: one oil lode lies between 400 m and 6 km from the place where the world starts, in the plains. Small pockets lie anywhere under dry land.

How do I know where to dig?

There is no sign on the surface. Dig down 30 to 42 m in the plains, or follow caves: oil can flood part of a cave.

Why can't I fill my bucket?

Only still oil can be taken, not oil that is running. The bucket must be empty or already hold oil, and it must not be full.

Can oil run out?

A lens is finite: what you take is gone from it, and the game never makes a liquid out of nothing.

Updated

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