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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.
How to get it
Find a bitumen puddle or stain, dig down along its conduit to the oil lens under its air pocket, then scoop it with a bucket (standing: a whole cubic metre) or pump it with a field pump driven by a shaft.
What it is for
Into the refinery: kerosene, petrol, diesel, natural gas, tar and plastic; a bucket of crude oil is also fuel (20 s) for any fire machine.
Why it exists
Oil is hidden on purpose: small lenses are enough for plastic, a giant lode feeds a factory, and finding them takes digging.
What do I need?
A pickaxe to dig, torches, and a bucket: three iron ingots in a V in the crafting grid.
How to get it
Three iron ingots in a V. Left click a liquid to scoop it, right click to pour it; standing works on the aligned 1 m cube, crouching on one voxel.
What it is for
Water for saplings, aquariums, the dye vat and the concrete mixer; lava as fuel (100 s a bucketful); milk to drink; concrete to pour.
Why it exists
Liquids are matter too: you carry them, and the world never refills what you took.
How do I reach the oil?
- 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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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