Oil becomes a significant raw material in Victoria 3 once you start setting up your industries and introducing new production methods. Knowing what part of your country produces Oil will make it easier to import and export and use it where it’s needed. Moreover, the complex interface of the game can get a little confusing for those who are just starting out their grand strategy game experience.
This is where our guide will help you and walk you through everything you need to know about oil production and acquisition in Victoria 3 and how to use the map to figure out oil locations. So without further ado, let’s begin.
How to check an Oil map
Several factors play into how easily players will be able to check the oil map in Victoria 3. If you’re already playing in a country producing Oil, you’ll have to look for the ‘Market’ button and click on it or press the F4 key.
Now go ahead and look for an icon with two cogs; this will be the tab that will open up ‘Industrial Goods‘ for you. Further, look for a grey canister, and this will lead you to ‘Oil.‘
Once you click on it, you’ll receive a proper breakdown of the Oil resource details and where the production spots on the world map might be. From here onwards, you can explore these spots by viewing the world map; they’ll be indicated by the color green.
The button next to ‘Price Display’ will also allow you to filter for potential locations, production, or consumption of the raw material. At the same time, the button at the bottom of the menu will allow you to explore various import and export routes.
Now in case you’re present in a country that does not have an Oil resource, you can simply go to the Import Trade Routes tab in the Trade Lens menu and search for the resource through the Tooltip.
Tooltip lets you access a detailed map that goes through resources and what regions are available in the game map.
You’ll also receive the market breakdown for each region’s raw material production, which will help you understand better the number of goods you can access from these states.
Meanwhile, some countries can potentially become discoverable oil resources in the future, and you can keep in touch with them by constantly checking their market.
Countries with Oil
Following are the countries and their undiscovered amount of used Oil in Victoria 3 that can become potential oil sources for your industries.
| Country Name | Undiscovered Amount of Oil |
| Alberta | 50 |
| Azerbaijan | 60 |
| Basra | 60 |
| California | 60 |
| Kuban | 30 |
| La Paz | 30 |
| Libyan Desert | 30 |
| Mosul | 50 |
| Nenetsia | 30 |
| Oklahoma | 20 |
| Ontario | 40 |
| Pennsylvania | 36 |
| East Borneo | 60 |
| East Java | 20 |
| Elbe | 30 |
| Fars | 60 |
| Friesland | 30 |
| Hanover | 30 |
| Chubu | 30 |
| Kansas | 20 |
| Río Grande | 50 |
| Samara | 30 |
| Santa Cruz | 30 |
| Saratov | 60 |
| Shanxi | 30 |
| Texas | 50 |
| Trucial Coast | 40 |
| Uralsk | 60 |
| Wallachia | 60 |
| West Galícia | 36 |
| Zulia | 60 |
How to extract and use Oil
Once you’ve discovered the regions and locations where you’ll be getting Oil from, let’s see how you can extract it.
The first way to get your hands on the Oil is through the Whaling stations, which have a 20% and 30% mortality rate for mechanics and laborers. We don’t recommend this due to the poor working conditions and the chance of employees fleeing or being eliminated.
A better choice for you will be the Oil Rigs building. Establishing this structure will take a lot of work, i.e., Pumpjacks technology that is unlocked after Steam Donkey and Dynamite, and requires 60 oil per level, ten coal, and five engines.
However, once that is done, this will be an automated process that will help you acquire Oil and further use it for automatic irrigation purposes.
As you progress, Oil will become a requirement for almost every building, therefore you will need to strategize effectively to have supplies secured. The following buildings, all require the use of Oil.
Farms
- Wheat Farms
- Maize Farms
- Rye Farms
Mines
- Lead Mines
- Sulfur Mines
- Gold Mines
- Coal Mines
- Iron Mines
Factories
- Arm Industries
- Tooling Workshops
- Food Industries
- Chemical Plants
- War Machine Industries
- Glassworks
- Furniture Manufacturers
Others
- Ports
- Logging Camps
- Conscription Centers
- Barracks
- Power Plants
- Railway
