Refinery expansion

[commissarhanish_MatrixForum]

Playing a PBEM as Japanese, captured Miri and Brunei and want to expand both refinery and oil production. Do I need to expand the base and then the expand refinery option will become available?

[viberpol]

You can repair damaged oil, not expand it.
Expanding refinery is a bad move IMHO. I made this and think it was a mistake on my part.
I actually shut down refineries at HI to preserve the oil.

You have enough industry to process the oil gathered but you will never have enough oil. Bear that in mind if you plan to play till '45.

[Yakface]

ORIGINAL: viberpol

I actually shut down refineries at HI to preserve the oil.

That seems a bit odd. Oil is useful for nothing other than refining into fuel. Not refiing it now just means you have to refine it later.

You may be thinking of the old WITP where oil was used by heavy industry and turned into fuel.

[viberpol]

ORIGINAL: Yakface

ORIGINAL: viberpol

I actually shut down refineries at HI to preserve the oil.

That seems a bit odd. Oil is useful for nothing other than refining into fuel. Not refiing it now just means you have to refine it later.

You may be thinking of the old WITP where oil was used by heavy industry and turned into fuel.

Nope. I figured out that I should close the refineries at Home Islands (HI) to preserve the oil. I deliver all resources (including fuel) from China/Korea/DEI to Home Islands to feed the industry, but keep the refineries at the Home Islands closed. If I open them (as I told earlier, I unnecessarily expanded them) the oil shall evaporate in 2-3 weeks so I spare it for more difficult time in 44 - 45 when I'll have no available tankers nor the clear passage routes to deliver fuel.

Without the oil, fuel needed for heavy industry at HI will end quickly.
Fuel to HI can be transported by AKs, but for oil you'll need TKs/Os that are precious and you'll lose them sooner or later.

[darbycmcd]

I understand what you are thinking with this, but remember that fuel does not spoil if stored at large facilies like you have on the Home Islands. So there is actually no advantage to waiting to convert the oil to fuel. In general, with pools that don't expire, such as fuel, HI, etc you should just go ahead a create as much as you can at home so you can coast toward the end. What are the odds that an American player will want to bomb your production centers near the end game.... convert all the oil as fast as you can.

[Mynok]

I agree. The refineries at home have lots of extra capacity. Feed them as much oil as you can. That's why I don't expand/repair refineries abroad. I will just ship excess oil home...along with fuel of course.

You want to convert as much of your resources/oil/fuel into HI points as fast as possible....HI points are what you want stockpiled when you reach 44-45, not oil/fuel/resources.

[Yakface]

ORIGINAL: commissarhanish

Playing a PBEM as Japanese, captured Miri and Brunei and want to expand both refinery and oil production. Do I need to expand the base and then the expand refinery option will become available?

To answer the original posters question

You will never be able to expand oil production at any base. IIRC Miri has 150 pts of damaged oil production and refineries. These are worth repairing IMO but you will need to ship in supplies to do so (and be careful that the extra 2,000 pts of supply consumption per day isn't leaving you short for combat operations elsewhere). You will also pick up other damaged oil/refineries when capturing the SRA

As far as possible it is best to refine oil into fuel at the location it is produced. 10 oil is converted to 1 supply and 9 fuel. refining at production site means that you are reducing the demands on your tankers (of which you never have enough) by 10% and making that 10% it to cargo ship use (of which you will always have a surplus). However you will always need to ship oil back to the home islands as it would be too expensive/wasteful to expand the local refineries to cope with all DEI oil.

Don't switch off the refineries in the home islands, just keep them fed with oil. Use the small tankers to collect from the minor oil bases on Formosa and Sakahlin. You have enough tankers fro the start to ship everything produced (oil and fuel) back to Japan - though it will depend how the sub war goes as to how long that will go on for. As far as possible don't waste a drop of fuel or oil. each point of fuel is a point of heavy industry in the bank.