Quick question about oil

[pazartesi_gorusuruz]

So the wiki says the perfect oil ratio is 20 oil refineries to 5 heavy oil crackers and 17 light oil crackers all set to petroleum gas. So I did that. But now I can't make any solid fuel because I don't have enough light oil because I don't have enough heavy oil to crack because heavy oil is not producing, because I am full on petroleum gas. What are the things to do with all this gas?

I distinctly remember from one of my previous playthroughs really bad memories of not having enough petroleum but now I don't even know what to do with it. Where do I sink all this plastic? I remember there were a few plastic sinks but can't remember what they were. One being red circuits of course but I'm good on that for now. So I don't understand.

[NiluDE]

You can also use your petroleum gas to produce solid fuel.

[piper.spirit]

There is no exact ratio for cracking, because it entirely depends on the needs of your factory and consumption rates of each particular oil. You can use pumps on each fuel source, connected to the circuit network, to specify only to crack when actually required.
For example, when gas falls too low, crack more, or a surplus of light oil, crack more, this balances oil to ensure you have enough of each fuel type.

There are numerous ways to go about this, but if you are new to factorio keep it simple and use the guide. https://wiki.factorio.com/Tutorial:Circuit_network_cookbook#Oil_Setups
This will solve your needs provided you are consuming enough gas.

[Fel]

On the wiki page, the part you quoted specifically says:

For producing petroleum gas, the optimal advanced oil processing ratio is 20:5:17 (advanced oil processing : heavy oil cracking : light oil cracking)

So it's working as intended since that ratio is specifically to produce only petroleum gas and not accumulate the other two at all.

If you need heavy and light oil for other things (and you do), reduce the cracking.

Usually this is where we start using some simple circuit network (red/green wires), only cracking if there is a need for it.
On the same wiki page, you will find a link to how to set it up (it's pretty simple, don't worry):
https://wiki.factorio.com/Tutorial:Circuit_network_cookbook#Oil_Setups
This allows you to only crack surplus of heavy and light oil (when the stored quantity is over a certain amount), letting you use them for other recipes as well without having to worry.

Petroleum gas is used for two things, plastic (mostly for red circuits and low density structure) and sulfur.
Both of those are require for science packs and rocket parts so it is fairly easy to increase the consumption as you continue to progress.

[Purpleganja]

You could make some more modules if you need to find a way to increase petroleum consumption temporarily. It will be useful right away unlike just stacking intermediate stuff.

[Warlord]

Originally posted by Fel:

On the wiki page, the part you quoted specifically says:

For producing petroleum gas, the optimal advanced oil processing ratio is 20:5:17 (advanced oil processing : heavy oil cracking : light oil cracking)

So it's working as intended since that ratio is specifically to produce only petroleum gas and not accumulate the other two at all.

If you need heavy and light oil for other things (and you do), reduce the cracking.

Usually this is where we start using some simple circuit network (red/green wires), only cracking if there is a need for it.
On the same wiki page, you will find a link to how to set it up (it's pretty simple, don't worry):
https://wiki.factorio.com/Tutorial:Circuit_network_cookbook#Oil_Setups
This allows you to only crack surplus of heavy and light oil (when the stored quantity is over a certain amount), letting you use them for other recipes as well without having to worry.

Petroleum gas is used for two things, plastic (mostly for red circuits and low density structure) and sulfur.
Both of those are require for science packs and rocket parts so it is fairly easy to increase the consumption as you continue to progress.

Great info. Follow this, OP.

The perfect ratio is PURELY for if you ONLY care about petroleum gas. Aside from a burst need in the beginning for some fuel (until you change over to nuclear or mass solar) and a bunch of lubricant to make blue belts, your primary consumption is again going to be petroleum gas. So min-maxers may set up a oil production site on an oil well site that turns all crude oil into petroleum gas, and then send that gas back to the refinery area for further use instead of shipping crude around. They may have a normal non-optimal refinery setup for some gas, while also converting heavy and light to lubricant and fuel.

Most likely, they are using the optimal ratio, but also setting up circuit conditions to NOT automatically crack heavy and light unless you have an excess of it. Follow the factorio wiki tutorial Fel linked to set it up. It's insanely easy, just hooking up a tank to a pump with a colored wire.

[RiO]

Adding on to what was already discussed - if you're looking to balance the oil products with circuitry, then keep in mind: heavy -> light -> petrol is one-way, and heavy's main - if not its only - use is conversion to lubricant.

The only thing that can really jam the machine -- is too much petrol.
That won't happen often, since petrol is needed for both plastic and sulfur - but it still might. You may want to take that into account and create a spillover that will convert excess petrol into solid fuel and just chucks it into boilers for power.

[Nailfoot]

Originally posted by RiO:

... convert excess petrol into solid fuel and just chucks it into boilers for power.

I wouldn't do that until LATE game when it doesn't matter so much. Before then, I would store it, and convert it to rocket fuel. Unless you only want to launch one rocket, you will want lots (lots) of rocket fuel...

[knighttemplar1960]

Originally posted by RiO:

You may want to take that into account and create a spillover that will convert excess petrol into solid fuel and just chucks it into boilers for power.

I set my stop gap for petrol to covert to solid fuel that then feeds into the the belts that go into the rocket fuel assemblers. I set a splitter with input priority set for the petrol side so that any over flow from there gets used first.

[RiO]

Originally posted by Nailfoot:

Originally posted by RiO:

... convert excess petrol into solid fuel and just chucks it into boilers for power.

I wouldn't do that until LATE game when it doesn't matter so much. Before then, I would store it, and convert it to rocket fuel. Unless you only want to launch one rocket, you will want lots (lots) of rocket fuel...

At one point you're going to jam the whole petrol line unless you consume it consistently. Buffering it works until you've basically capped out. Either that means an ever expanding series of buffered storage of solid fuel for later use; or you burn it off.

Note that excess petrol is only the petrol that you get as a 'by-product' when your main shortage is light oil or heavy oil / lube. If those are both available in sufficient buffered quantities, you don't have to keep refineries running and burning through crude oil. They can just pause.

Only if the output is jammed on excess petrol would you need to act with some kind of overflow release.


If you're already building rocket fuel for the rocket and consuming it steadily enough, then something like:

Originally posted by knighttemplar1960:

I set my stop gap for petrol to covert to solid fuel that then feeds into the the belts that go into the rocket fuel assemblers. I set a splitter with input priority set for the petrol side so that any over flow from there gets used first.

will effectively also work. (And will let some pressure off of the light oil consumption as well.)