Drilling: The Petroleum Specialization

Plopping an Oil Well over an oil reservoir is the first step to getting your petroleum empire off the ground. Consider placing a Trade Depot nearby to export crude oil to the global market .

There’s a good chance a sizable fortune is bubbling just beneath the surface of your city…and you may not even know about it. Activate the Oil data map to locate ancient deposits of crude oil, accumulated in elliptical pools called oil reservoirs.

By plopping Oil Wells over these reservoirs you can pump crude oil to the surface and sell it for a profit on the global market. But oil is even more profitable when processed at an Oil Refinery to produce plastic and fuel, vital ingredients to Great Works.

Or ship plastic to a Processor Factory to assist in the foundation of a burgeoning electronics specialization. There are multiple ways to generate income through the petroleum business, depositing fat wads of Simoleons into your city’s treasury with each transaction. But don’t get ahead of yourself.

The buildings associated with this Specialization are expensive and occupy a lot of space—never mind the pollution. So consider taking out a loan and set aside a large portion of your city to pursue your dreams of making it big off all that beautiful black gold!

Oil Well

• Cost: 37,500
• Operational Cost: 150 per hour
• Production Rate: 2,400 BPD
• Prerequisites:
• Provide working power
• Provide working water
• Oil under your city
• Have seven industrial buildings
• Description: What a better way to thank the dinosaurs for hooking you up with all that oil than to make Simoleons off them? Pump crude oil from reservoirs under your city. Run your city on crude oil with an Oil Power Plant! Sell barrels of your crude oil to local industry or on the global market via a Trade Depot. Thanks, dinos!

Building an Oil Well is the starting point for beginning your oil empire. Before placing an Oil Well, make sure you position it directly over a large oil reservoir—the Oil data map is automatically activated when an Oil Well is selected from the Drilling menu.

Placing the Oil Well directly over a reservoir significantly increases its daily yield. However, some oil reservoirs are massive, extending far beyond the reach of your well. Instead of building multiple Oil Wells side by side, simply expand your existing well by extending its Service Road and building additional Oil Pumpjacks along it.

The Service Road can expand a well’s footprint over a massive area, usually allowing one well to completely occupy the area above a large oil reservoir. You can place up to eight additional Oil Pumpjacks along the Service Road, each one drawing more oil from the ground—the stock facility already comes with two Oil Pumpjacks.

But the faster you pump oil, the quicker the output storage lot is filled. If the output storage lot reaches capacity, the Oil Well facility is temporarily shut down, so build additional Oil Delivery Truck Garages to provide more trucks.

These trucks automatically deliver barrels of oil to local Trade Depots, Trade Ports, Oil Power Plants, and Oil Refineries. If you’re planning to sell crude oil on the global market, build a Trade Depot close to the Oil Well to cut down on transportation time between the two facilities.

Modules

Oil Well Sign

• Cost: 200
• Operational Cost: None
• Maximum Modules: 1
• Description: The sign says: “No free samples. Beware: Attack Armadillos”.

Service Road

• Cost: Free
• Operational Cost: None
• Maximum Modules: N/A
• Description: Provides infrastructure to allow transportation of crude oil from pumpjacks to the main Oil Well.

Oil Delivery Truck Garage

• Cost: 10,000
• Operational Cost: 50 per hour
• Truck Capacity: 500 barrels
• Maximum Modules: 4
• Description: Provides an additional tanker truck to deliver crude oil to Oil Refineries, Oil Storage Lots, and Oil Power Plants.

Oil Pumpjack

• Cost: 10,000
• Operational Cost: 30 per hour
• Production Rate: 1,200 BPD
• Maximum Modules: 10
• Description: Does running your Oil Well feel like sucking crude oil through a straw? Then get more straws! Add Oil Pumpjacks to your Oil Well to extend your reach and pump crude oil faster!

Petroleum HQ

• Cost: 37,500
• Operational Cost: 450 per hour
• Prerequisites:
• Build an Oil Well
• Extract 80,000 barrels of crude oil in a day
• Description: If you have crude oil in your veins and your heart pumps jet fuel, your city is ready for a Petroleum HQ. Sell crude oil on the global market via a Trade Depot to access petroleum improvements, including refineries, so you can produce fuel and plastic.

Petroleum HQ Upgrades

Level	Name	Criteria	Unlock
1	Petroleum HQ	Extract 9,600 barrels of crude in a day.	One division of your choice.
2	Petroleum, Co.	Earn 200,000 in petroleum daily profit.	One division of your choice.
3	Petroleum, Inc.	Earn 2,000,000 in petroleum daily profit.	One division of your choice.

Once you get your oil specialization off to a good start, you’ll eventually gain access to the Petroleum HQ, available in the Drilling menu. Like the Metals HQ, this fancy high-rise office building will likely dominate your city’s skyline, drawing the envy of visiting mayors.

Place this HQ in an area with plenty of room for expansion—you’ll need space for the Refining and Commerce Divisions. By increasing profits from petroleum sales you can earn two upgrades for this HQ, gaining access to a division of your choice with each upgrade.

Choose the Refining Division first to unlock access to the Oil Refinery, allowing you to produce fuel and plastic. The Commerce Division can come later, as you’re probably not quite ready for a Trade Port yet. Plus, the extra income generated from fuel and plastic will earn you that final HQ upgrade rather quickly.

In addition to gaining access to new buildings, the Petroleum HQ also allows you to compete in the leaderboards. Maximize oil production to climb to the top!

Modules

Petroleum HQ Sign

• Cost: 200
• Operational Cost: None
• Maximum Modules: 1
• Description: “Dedicated to a clean environment!” the sign cheerfully claims.

Refining Division

• Cost: 400,000
• Operational Cost: 400 per hour
• Local Access Granted: Oil Refinery
• Maximum Modules: 1
• Description: Petroleum is not only good for crude oil, you can refine the crude oil into fuel or plastic. Diversifying into other resources can help you weather the ups and downs of the global market.

Commerce Division

• Cost: 20,000
• Operational Cost: 400 per hour
• Local Access Granted: Trade Port, Crude Oil, Fuel and Plastic Storage Lots at the Trade Port
• Maximum Modules: 1
• Description: Full of trade nerds who love watching the action of oil prices on the global market, the Commerce Division helps get your petroleum products to market.

Oil Refinery

• Cost: 73,000
• Operational Cost: 300 per hour
• Production Rate: 2,400 Barrels/day
• Prerequisites:
• Petroleum HQ with Refining Division
• Description: Crude oil prices down? Then diversify! Take your crude oil and use it to create plastic to sell on the global market via a Trade Depot. Add a Fuel Distillation Unit to also create fuel to sell or use for Great Works!

Take your oil specialization to the next level with an Oil Refinery. This facility inputs crude oil and produces fuel and plastic—both products are used in Great Works, and plastic is also essential for creating processors at Processor Factories associated with the electronics specialization.

By default, the facility is equipped with one Fuel Distillation Unit, allowing you to create fuel immediately. If you want to create plastic, add a Plastic Polymerizer. As the refinery starts cranking out products, keep a close eye on the material and product storage lots—click on the Oil Refinery to open its window to see each lot’s capacity.

The material lot holds all incoming oil supplied by Oil Wells or Trade Depots. If there’s a shortage, consider adding more truck garages at the Oil Wells or Trade Depots to increase input. Each product storage lot holds either fuel or plastic produced by the refinery. Shipping out these products are the responsibility of the delivery trucks at the refinery.

Place additional Oil Refinery Delivery Truck Garages to keep plastic and fuel moving out and to prevent a halt in production due to full lots. With each additional Fuel Distillation Unit and Plastic Polymerizer added to the refinery, the plastic and fuel material storage lots double in capacity to accommodate the increased production.

Still, it’s important to keep an eye on these lots to make sure the delivery trucks are getting the job done. Send plastic and fuel to a Trade Port for export on the global market. Or simply use the Trade Port’s massive storage lots to stockpile plastic and fuel for a future Great Works project—the Solar Farm requires plastic and the Space Center requires fuel.

Modules

Oil Refinery Sign

• Cost: 200
• Operational Cost: None
• Maximum Modules: 1
• Description: The font on the sign seems pretty refined, but the sign’s still kind of greasy.

Oil Refinery Delivery Truck Garage

• Cost: 10,000
• Operational Cost: 50 per hour
• Truck Capacity: 2,000 barrels of processed oil
• Maximum Modules: 4
• Description: Adds a transport truck to move plastic and fuel to plastic and fuel consumers.

Fuel Distillation Unit

• Cost: 46,000
• Operational Cost: 150 per hour
• Production Rate: 24,000 BPD
• Maximum Modules: 3
• Description: This is the answer to your hopes if you are selling fuel faster than you can make it. Create fuel faster with this fractional distillation unit!

Plastic Polymerizer

• Cost: 30,000
• Operational Cost: 50 per hour
• Production Rate: 2,400 BPD
• Maximum Modules: 4
• Description: Plastic polymerizer. Sounds high tech, right? It is. In goes crude oil, out comes plastic. Science is amazing. Sell your plastic on the global market, or use it to create CPUs or for building Great Works.

Managing the 
Petroleum Specialization

Like all city specializations, there’s a lot more to succeeding in the petroleum specialization than simply building Oil Wells and refineries. It’s important to keep an eye on your input and output lots, ensuring oil, plastic, and fuel flow steadily between your facilities.

Likewise, it’s important to address the inherent risks associated with extracting and refining crude oil. Here’s a few pointers to help get your petroleum specialization off the ground.

A Craving for Crude

The Oil Refinery shows you’re serious about making it big in the petroleum specialization. This massive facility converts crude oil into fuel and plastic.

You can’t become a cowboy-hat-wearing oil tycoon overnight. Like all things in SimCity , it’s important to start small and expand as production and profits increase. Since you’ll have a steady supply of oil, consider powering your city with an Oil Power Plant. This is a heavy polluter, but it can generate enough power to supply your city and several others.

You’ll also need to zone some industrial before the Oil Well is available. Begin your city specialization by plopping one Oil Well over a large oil reservoir. Use the Service Road to expand the Oil Well’s footprint and add additional Oil Pumpjacks to increase production.

Initially, ship all extracted crude oil to a nearby Trade Depot and export it to the global market to fill your city’s treasury with a steady flow of Simoleons—make sure your Oil Power Plant is accepting local deliveries as well. Build the Petroleum HQ as soon as it’s unlocked and add a Refining Division following its first upgrade.

This allows you to build the Oil Refinery. At this point, direct oil shipments to the refinery so you can begin producing fuel and plastic—you’ll need to add a Plastic Polymerizer to the refinery to make plastic. Transport these new products to the Trade Depot and sell them on the global market for an even bigger profit.

Or contribute them to a Great Works site—plastic is also essential for making processors at the Processor Factory. As your oil specialization expands, so will the pollution generated by these dirty facilities. If you’re relying on local workers, make sure your residential and commercial zones are far from your Oil Wells and Oil Refinery, otherwise you’ll see an increase in health problems, not to mention complaints, leading to a downturn in your approval rating.

Oil Well Optimization

Extend the Oil Well’s Service Road and build additional Oil Pumpjacks to extract oil from a large area.

There’s no need to build multiple Oil Wells when one will do. By extending a Oil Well’s Service Road, you can expand the facility’s footprint dramatically, ideal for extracting crude oil from even the largest oil reservoirs. Select the Service Road and connect it to the existing Service Road at the edge of the base facility.

Just like the Wind Power Plant or Garbage Dump, this Service Road can extend far beyond the Oil Well. Draw the Service Road directly through the center of the reservoir, and then position new Oil Pumpjacks on either side of the road. The Oil Well comes with two Oil Pumpjacks and you can place up to eight more along the Service Road, greatly increasing production.

But as oil production increases, the output storage lot will fill up fast. Build additional Oil Delivery Truck Garages to haul away accumulating barrels of oil to a Trade Depot, Oil Power Plant, or Oil Refinery.

The well can only store 20,000 barrels of oil regardless of how many Oil Pumpjacks you add. When storage reaches capacity, the Oil Well temporarily shuts down until more storage space is cleared, so keep those trucks moving to prevent a halt in production.

Emergency Response

In addition to providing a Large Fire Station with a Hazmat Garage, build a Hospital to respond to injuries at your wells and refineries.

Like mines, Oil Wells and Oil Refineries are dangerous places to work. Make sure you have the appropriate facilities in place to respond to emergencies. A Hospital equipped with an Emergency Center and Surgical Center are recommended for responding to accidents resulting in injuries—consider building the Hospital close to your facilities to decrease ambulance response times.

These facilities also have an elevated risk for hazmat fires. As soon as you can afford it, build a Large Fire Station and add a Hazmat Garage. Failure to address the risk of hazmat fires may result in your expensive facilities going up in smoke, killing and injuring multiple workers in the process.

Hazmat fires also spread toxic pollution, potentially making nearby Sims sick, further impacting your city’s health care system. So take the risk of injuries and hazmat fires seriously before they take a toll on your workers, facilities…and bottom line.