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Oilfields

How to get Crude Oil in Once Human

Here’s how to farm Crude Oil in Once Human, so you never run out of fuel again.

The player looks at an oilrig in Red Sands of Once Human
Image credit: VG247/Starry Studio
Kelsey Raynor avatar
Guide by Kelsey Raynor Guides Writer
Published on

Being a gargantuan, post-apocalyptic survival game, Once Human tasks you with farming a multitude of resources. Some of them you’ll only need to farm until the next important thing comes around, like Tin Ore and Copper Ore. Other resources, however, will be needed throughout the game, such as fuel.

Fuel can be a pain to acquire, but you can farm it quickly and efficiently at your base by setting up the equipment needed to farm Crude Oil. By farming Crude Oil, you will essentially have an endless supply of fuel! To help you out, here’s how to get Crude Oil in Once Human, and everything you need to set up your own oil farming operation.

How to get Crude Oil in Once Human

Barreled Crude Oil can be converted into fuel that can be used to power vehicles and turrets, and given just how much traveling you often need to do in Once Human, you will need lots of fuel.

To farm Barreled Crude Oil, you will need to unlock the following Memetics:

  • Water Pumps - Tier 3 of Logistics tab.
  • Solar Generators - Tier 3 of Logistics tab, though you can also use other Generators as you power source.
  • Fuel Refinery - Tier 2 of the Infrastructure tab.

Once you have the above equipment unlocked, you need to move your territory to an area where oil can be extracted from the environment. Most commonly, these oilfield areas can be found in the region of Red Sands.

An area full of oil rigs in Red Sands is marked on the Once Human map
This is the Red Sands oilfield that myself and many others have opted to build in. | Image credit: VG247/Starry Studio

After finding a suitable spot for your base where oil is present, you’ll then need to set up your oil-refining rig by doing the following:

  1. Place your Water Pump on land surrounding your base. Placing it in water will not extract Crude Oil, but dirty water instead.
  2. Place your Generators and a Circuit Module to connect wires to.
  3. Place your Fuel Refinery nearby.
  4. Press ‘X’ on your Solar Generators in build mode to connect wires to your Circuit Module.
  5. Press ‘X’ on your Circuit Module to then connect wires to the Water Pump and Fuel Refinery.

Provided that your base is in an oilfield, it shouldn’t be too long before your Water Pump begins to extract Barreled Crude Oil from the ground.

The player retrieves Barreled Crude Oil from a Water Pump in Once Human
Check in with your Water Pump regularly to collect Barreled Crude Oil. | Image credit: VG247/Starry Studio

You then want to transfer the Crude Oil to your Fuel Refinery to have it turned into Barreled Crude Oil that can be used for refueling vehicles or turrets. For every 10 Crude Oil, you can get 5 Portable Mixed Fuel per hour.

For more on Once Human, take a look at our Once Human codes, how to farm Acid, and how to farm Stardust Source.

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