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Petroleum
Petroleum (CivBE)

Resource in Beyond Earth

Yields None
Notes Used by many Orbital Units.

Game info[]

Upgrades:

Petroleum is the primary Strategic Resource used for building satellites.

Strategy[]

Petroleum is the second most important strategic resource, distinguishable by the fact that it could be found both on the ground and in the sea. Petroleum is the main resource used for almost all satellites, and you'll need a lot of it if you intend to develop your orbital capabilities.

Petroleum is also a good source of Production Production (although not as good as Titanium Titanium), but accessing it has the drawback that it diminishes the Health Health of your colony. Consider countering this negative effect by building at least 1 Biowell nearby.

Petroleum is required for the following units:

Petroleum is required for the following buildings:

  • Biofactory (Only requires improved resource nearby, does not cost Petroleum.)
  • Petrochemical Plant (Only requires improved resource nearby, does not cost Petroleum.)

Civilopedia entry

Planetary petroleum consists of a mix of hydrocarbons and liquid organic compounds from decayed and fossilized animals and plants, on this world primarily algae and heterosporous vegetation, lying under and within sedimentary rock. Although similar to oil as found on Earth, the petroleum of this planet tends to have higher concentrations of heavy hydrocarbons such as pentane, hexane and heptane; this is due to the younger age of the planet and the prevalence of recent widespread volcanism. Thus, processing native petroleum – separating the alkanes by fractional distillation and naphthenes via catalytic cracking – is a more complex process than on Earth. Nonetheless, early colonists quickly established drilling fields and petroleum refineries to produce the gasoline, diesel, jet-A and kerosene necessary for most of the transportation, agricultural, construction and military equipment brought from Earth. However, these fuels processed from native petroleum were found to have both a lower octane rating and a lower cetane rating (rarely above 38); over time research into refining processes have greatly improved these values. As other forms of propulsion, such as magnetic levitation and fusion drives, have been advanced and engineered, the need for petroleum products has lessened in colonial settlements. But petroleum refining continues to be vital for the settlements because of the need for reagents necessary for the manufacture of certain plastics and pharmaceuticals.

Images[]

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