Rust: farming Crude Oil at the Dome after Power Trip — switching Oil Rigs, Tanker module and refining

The 6 August 2026 Force Wipe didn't just electrify Rust's monuments: the Power Trip update has also set up a genuine oil industry on the island. Once the Power Plant is sufficiently powered, a switch located on the Oil Rigs sends Crude Oil to three brand-new pumps at the foot of the Dome's Sphere Tank — on the order of 3,000 units of crude in about twenty minutes for the large platform, enough to refine close to 9,000 Low Grade Fuel.

The catch is that this oil can't be collected by hand. You need a modular vehicle fitted with the tanker module, a Hose Tool to connect the tank to the pump, and then a car lift to unload the cargo. Facepunch has designed the loop as a small logistics job, with its mandatory checkpoints and windows of vulnerability.

Here's how to set up the chain from start to finish: power grid prerequisites, output rates of the two Oil Rigs, tanker truck equipment, extraction at Oxum's Gas Station or on your own lift, and refining profitability.

Prerequisites: a Power Plant at phase 3

The entire chain depends on the island's power grid introduced by Power Trip: Heavy Fuses inserted into the fuse boxes of the Power Plant's main building ramp up the grid's power in stages. The switch controlling the flow of oil to the Dome only becomes usable from phase 3 onward, meaning 10 to 17 fuses installed, according to readings from RustFront and Corrosion Hour. Facepunch's devblog merely states that the Power Plant needs to be "running".

In practice: on a populated server, the community generally reaches this stage within the first few hours after the wipe. On a quieter server, you'll need to farm the Power Plant yourself to deposit Heavy Fuses there — remember they can't be retrieved and each one lasts 2 hours 40 minutes. Before mobilising a truck and an escort, check the state of the grid: if the monuments are dark, the oil won't flow.

The oil circuit: from the Oil Rig to the Dome

It all starts at sea. Each oil rig now has a switch — housed in the red puzzle room, according to Rustafied — that starts pumping Crude Oil to the mainland for about 20 minutes:

• Large Oil Rig: full output, on the order of 3,000 Crude Oil per cycle according to Corrosion Hour's previews;
• Small Oil Rig: half the output, around 1,500 Crude Oil;
• both activated at the same time: around 1.5 times the Large's production, close to 4,500 units.

These figures remain subject to adjustment by Facepunch through this August's patches, but the order of magnitude sets the tone: this is the biggest source of Crude Oil ever added to the game. The crude arrives at the Dome, distributed equally among the three pumps installed at the foot of the Sphere Tank. Practical consequence: a tanker can only connect to one pump at a time. With two or three vehicles, a group drains the site far faster than a solo player — and leaves less oil for rival teams.

The Tanker module: the tank finally useful

The "Tanker vehicle module" mentioned in the devblog is none other than the Fuel Tank Vehicle Module, that tank module taking up two modular vehicle slots that's been in the game for years — until now limited to hauling water. Facepunch had introduced it while announcing it would one day be used to move fuel in bulk "once pumping stations were added": Power Trip delivers on that promise.

On the equipment side, plan for a chassis with at least three slots: a cockpit with an engine, plus the tank. Like all modules, it's installed and removed with the vehicle raised on a powered Modular Car Lift. Once at the Dome, pull out the Hose Tool and connect the tank's inlet to a pump: filling begins, exactly like water used to work.

A key point: Crude Oil can only be extracted from the tank with the vehicle raised on a car lift. There's no siphoning the load off on the side of the road — that's the whole point of the system, and its whole source of tension: between the Dome and the lift, your truck is a rolling safe that anyone can steal and drain at home.

Draining it: your base or Oxum's Gas Station

Your base's car lift

The safest option remains a Modular Car Lift behind your walls, wired into your electrical circuit. You drain it in safety, with no witnesses, and the crude goes straight into your storage. If you plan to make oil a wipe routine, factor a garage with a lift and a wide enough garage door into your base design from the start.

Oxum's car lift

Power Trip made the car lift in Oxum's Gas Station's garage functional. It can be powered two ways: via the island's grid, or through the backup generator installed nearby, which runs on Low Grade Fuel — invaluable when the grid is down. The garage door is controlled by an outdoor wall switch, which also depends on power.

Two details worth knowing before you drive in. First, the bonus: the cave beneath the lift now holds a crate of higher-quality vehicle parts, visually distinct from the usual crates — a hook worth the detour even without a tank. Second, the trap: the lift has crush zones at the top and bottom of its travel. A vehicle poorly positioned at the wrong moment is simply destroyed, cargo included.

Refining and profitability: what to do with the crude

The rate hasn't changed: 1 Crude Oil refined in a Small Oil Refinery yields 3 Low Grade Fuel. A full Large Oil Rig cycle therefore represents, in theory, close to 9,000 Low Grade — enough to keep a Minicopter flying for hours, power boats and vehicles, feed Oxum's generator, and keep your flame turrets fueled for the whole wipe.

One habit to avoid: selling crude to the Bandit Camp. The vendor only offers 1 Scrap for 6 Crude Oil, a laughable rate given the value of refined fuel. Oil from the Dome is meant to be refined, not sold off cheap.

Surviving the 20-Minute Window

The Dome remains one of the most heavily visited monuments on the map, and the pumps are on the ground, out in the open. Pumping creates a 20-minute window during which everyone knows there's something worth taking — and a fuel tanker is neither fast nor discreet. A few principles to get back in one piece:

• Play in at least a duo: one player at the tanker pumping, one lookout up high on the Dome or a nearby roof.
• Shorten the trip: scout out the nearest car lift before starting the pump, not after.
• Never leave a full tanker unattended: the vehicle can be stolen, and its load can be drained at any enemy lift.
• Aim for off-peak hours: a cycle started at 4 a.m. yields just as much as one at 9 p.m., with ten times fewer bullets flying.
• Coordinate with network maintainers: if your server has a group that keeps the Heavy Fuses running, chipping in a few fuses guarantees phase 3 holds during your operation.

Where to Start This Weekend

The first weekend after the Force Wipe is the ideal time: the network has just been powered back up on most servers, and few players already have the tanker reflex. In order: check the Power Plant's phase, fit out a three-slot truck with the Fuel Tank Vehicle Module, slip a Hose Tool into your inventory, flip the switch on the Large Oil Rig if you can manage it — otherwise the Small one is more than enough for a duo — and chain Dome pumps into a car lift run. If your base doesn't have a lift yet, Oxum's and its Low Grade generator work perfectly fine, as long as you keep an eye on the garage door. Oil has only been flowing for about twenty-four hours: the first to industrialize the loop will start this wipe's entire fuel economy with a head start.