Checked on 21 October 2026 against Update 6.0 (build 0.10.0.653173). This page covers fuel and gas in The Last Caretaker by Channel37. In the Channel37 notes read for this page, no production rates are given for these machines; every rate below is a player, video or wiki figure and says whose it is.

Short answer. Diesel comes from the Diesel Refinery (organic matter and power) or from crude oil run through the Distillation Tower, which also makes petrol and plastic [S14][S18]. Oil comes from the Black Vein pump [S15]; the whale route is covered on the Project Jonah page. Burn fuel in a generator to get CO2, then feed CO2, fresh water and power into the Sabatier reactor for methane and oxygen [S9][S32]. Without CO2 the reactor makes oxygen only [S9].

Where each fuel comes from

You wantSourceNotes
DieselDiesel RefineryRuns on organic material; the wiki lists "Idle Power Draw 0 W" [S14]
Diesel, petrol, plasticDistillation TowerTakes crude oil and electricity [S18]
Crude oilBlack Vein oil platform"Repair the oil pump, supply it with electricity, and run a line from the pump deck out to some oil tanks." (the.momaw, 1 April 2026) [S15]
Crude oilOil whalesSee the Project Jonah page
Petrol on the movePortable Petrol RefineryA tips video says at [4:25]: "You can make a petrol refinery and just" [S36] (the sentence goes on in the video)
CO2Generators, boat exhaust, Donk LiftSee the carbon dioxide section
MethaneSabatier reactor, Soilforge Prime, compostSee the methane section
OxygenSabatier reactor, oxygen generatorsSee the oxygen section

Diesel from organic matter

On 26 March 2026, Wantoomany described the biomass route as temporary: "Bio mater is a temporary mechanic. You will discover an oil platform and will, once you level up, be able to distill diesel and petrol from oil." [S15]

Yield. On 26 March 2026, Tangoblue first wrote "250 biomass will get you 2000L of diesel", then later that day: "Looks like the quantity has been changed with the latest update. Looks like 250 will only get you approximately 1000L." [S15] A wiki copy captured before 21 October 2026 says "A standalone Diesel Refinery generates four litres of Diesel per organic material placed in its hopper." [S14]

Which bio to burn. On 16 October 2026 (Update 6.0 public beta), snorkybits wrote: "the only bio you should use for fuel is from the worms that never stop coming lol." [S17] The same day, Osmium, who had been reading a guide, wrote that slimes "are finite and don't come back once you've cleared an area of them" [S17].

Update 6.0 and leeches. On 19 October 2026, release day, Thiesen started a thread titled "So the leeches do despawn over time in patch 6...", warning "it is a bad thing for those who rely on them for diesel fuel" [S16]. On 20 October 2026, Darke replied that at Lazarus the dead leech remains stuck under the building can be harvested, "about 300kg of biomatter per trip" [S16]. Thiesen answered that the remains still despawn if nobody babysits them, and Darke said leeches still scatter their biomass under Lazarus [S16].

Diesel and petrol from oil: the Distillation Tower

The Infinite Fuel Factory video says at [3:29] that the tower is "unlocked at rank 20", "takes crude oil" and electricity and produces "diesel, petrol, and plastic" [S18].

Rates players report. On 19 October 2026 (before the full release of Update 6.0), AllegedlyLuca wrote: "Rates for the distillery I've seen as of my playing today are 10kL/h diesel and 3.6kL/h petrol per 20kL/h oil." [S19] The same post says the writer believes these match the rates in Update 5.5 but did not check that [S19]. A Black Vein video about Update 5.0 shows 10,000 L diesel and 3,600 L petrol per hour on screen at [8:49] [S34]. The Durandian video How To Get Infinite Diesel And Petrol gives a rougher figure at [7:21]: "for every 1,000 diesel that this thing distills, it will only distill like 200 petrol" [S22].

Older ratios are out of date. Before Update 5.0, on 28 March 2026, Serakyn wrote "2000L of Oil = 3596L of Diesel + 360L of Petrol" [S15], and on 28 May 2026 Marvin gave "Oil/diesel/petrol ratio is 100:180:18 (diesel/petrol ratio is 10:1)" [S23]. On 29 June 2026, five days after Update 5.0, DasKippa wrote: "And god is the distiller slow with the new flow rates." [S24] Neither the Update 5.0 notes [S6] nor the Update 5.5 notes [S7] list a tower rate change, and the only tower lines in the Update 6.0 notes fix its model and its glow [S8].

Power. On 14 October 2026 (Update 6.0 public beta), Will_fires_back wrote: "The distillation tower needs 60Kw to run at full speed which can drain batteries fairly quickly." [S20] The Ep17 video says at [4:02] "60 kW hours to run that" and then "60 kW hours to run the pump down there", and at [4:12] "a combination of 120 kW hours just to run it" [S21]. On 14 October 2026 (Update 6.0 public beta), MULI reported the tower "only outputting 1 liter of diesel every two seconds" [S20]. Will_fires_back suggested depleted batteries, and Dirtyshadow wrote that with enough power it "should be 2.7 litres per second" [S20]. Units vary between Kw and kW hours in these sources.

Why it stopped. On 14 October 2026 (Update 6.0 public beta), Thiesen wrote: "The distillation tower stops producing when the destination tanks are full... Since it produces more diesel than petrol the diesel tanks gets full first..." [S20] The suggested fix was "Just unhook the diesel output and let it spill out on the ground" [S20], and the same applies the other way round if the petrol tanks fill first. Will_fires_back made the petrol side explicit: "If the petrol tanks are full, output will stall." [S20] The Durandian video How To Get Infinite Diesel And Petrol shows the same trick at [7:58]: with the diesel line off, it keeps making petrol and plastic [S22]. The Ep17 video warns at [2:20] that a refinery switched off with full diesel tanks "won't restart" [S21].

Black Vein pump and the oil whales

Black Vein pump. The Infinite Fuel Factory video says at [8:33], without naming a game version, that the "pump is able to bring in 32,000" [S18]. On 16 October 2026 (Update 6.0 public beta), Mimi wrote: "oil extraction is limited to a flow rate of 36,000L, even though the pipes are capable of handling 72,000L." [S25] These figures may come from different versions, so they are not compared here. On 19 December 2025, Ed130-The Vanguard gave "Coordinates 49 : -70" for the north oil platform [S30].

While you are away. On 16 October 2026 (Update 6.0 public beta), 4ntiRefleX wrote about the Black Vein rig: "it calculates up to two hours of production sped up when you visit it next time." [S25] On 12 October 2026 (Update 6.0 public beta), Cpt. Noro, answering a different problem, wrote that the new change makes "production and flow continue for 1 hour" [S26]. The official Update 6.0 wording is on the update history page.

Oil whales. Oil from the whales is covered on the Project Jonah page.

Carbon dioxide

CO2 comes from burning fuel. The How to Get Carbon Dioxide video lists the boat exhaust from [0:06], the small and large electric generators, and the Donk Lift, which has a carbon dioxide output port at [1:45] [S12]. The same speaker calls the exhaust route not very effective [S12]. The Exodus setup video uses "a large" electric generator "to produce carbon" dioxide for the reactor at [6:25] [S32].

Storing CO2: on 9 November 2025, Desh51 wrote "You don't store Co2, you use it immediately." [S9] The official notes of 18 March 2026 then list "Added CO2 storage module." [S1] Durandian, in an Exodus-layout video, says at [3:48] that before the patch petrol was burned for carbon dioxide, and at [3:59] that with "carbon dioxide tanks, you don't even need the petrol anymore." [S13]

CO2 also makes carbon fiber: per the wiki, "It can also be generated using the CO2 Reactor Tank." [S31] The Update 3.5 notes list "Fixed CO2 reactor processing when not powered." [S2]

Methane and oxygen: the Sabatier reactor

Ports. On 8 November 2025, unspok3n wrote: "At the back of the reactor there are five ports - 4 oxygen and one at the center for methane." [S9] The wiki adds that only one oxygen port needs a connection to capture all the oxygen [S10].

Inputs. Power, fresh water and CO2. The wiki lists "Electricity: 60 kW" [S10]. Fresh, not salt: on 13 November 2025, 5th Wolf reported the cause of no methane: "I accidentally had it pluging into saltwater instead of fresh." [S9] Salt water goes through a purifier first (water chain).

CO2 decides methane. On 9 November 2025, unspok3n wrote: "you need to have a diesel engine running to get CO2 to get methane from this reactor." [S9] In indoor249's video, at [4:58]: "You don't need carbon dioxide. It just won't produce methane then." [S11] At [3:27] the same video says more carbon dioxide makes the reactor produce faster [S11].

Start order. On 9 November 2025, before the CO2 storage module was added, Desh51 wrote: "The reason your generator is stalling is it's choking on Co2. Start the reactor first, then the generator." [S9] In a Bemo Guinness video from 21 March 2026, the first machine switched on will not start; at [27:43] the speaker says "It won't run. It was not pulling the carbon dioxide." [S37] Once that is fixed the speaker says at [28:24] "The generator's running. All we got left is turning on the reactor", so the generator runs before the reactor is switched on. [S37] The two reports differ on the order, and both point at whether the CO2 is being drawn off.

Full tanks stop it. On 9 November 2025, unspok3n wrote: "Reactor fully stops when the oxygen tank is full." [S9] The same day, DW9x wrote: "Leaving at least one of the O2 ports open will let the excess out if your O2 tanks are full." [S9] A wiki copy captured before 21 October 2026 says: "The machine will not operate if both gas output types are connected, and either is full." [S10]

At Exodus Station the Exodus setup video says at [6:05] the game comes with "the one green methane tank" and an oxygen tank to repair [S32]. Rocket fuel amounts are on the rocket launch page.

The Update 3.5 notes list "Fixed incorrect unit display in the Sabatier description." [S2], so older screenshots of that description may show a different unit.

Other methane sources

  • Soilforge Prime. On 19 December 2025, Will_fires_back explained its temperature lever: "Grab vertical lever by holding mouse button, then use 'W' and 'S' keys to set temperature." With the right temperature set, "it does recycle bio" into food [S30]. On 20 December 2025, Zephir001 wrote that without the lever adjustment "it's only producing methane" [S30]. The 11 February 2026 update later lists "Fixed Soilforge Prime not producing methane" [S4], so these posts describe the build before that fix.
  • Compost. The 16 December 2025 update added a "Compost system for food generation with temperature control and methane output." [S3] On 19 December 2025, Harry666cz wrote that the compost module "filled my two 6 thousand tanks from few scraps in few minutes" [S30], adding "it doesnt work with methane unpluged" [S30].
  • Methane Conversion Pits (Update 4) are a place, not a machine: "deep vertical climate-engineering shafts, reaching more than 180 meters down, with machine rooms and methane pipe systems below." [S5]
  • Methane Extractor and canisters (Update 6.0) for North Bastion: see the heating page.

Oxygen

In indoor249's video, the Sabatier reactor makes oxygen with or without CO2, as the speaker says at [4:58] [S11]. A small oxygen generator is the electric option; TheGamer's crafting list puts the "Small Oxygen Generator" at Tier 12 [S35]. The Update 6.0 notes list "Fixed severe lag caused by oxygen generators" [S8].

Storage

The Update 5.5 notes list "Large Battery, Petrol, and Diesel storage containers" [S7]. How much they hold is disputed between the official notes and player reports, and Update 6.0 changed how chained tanks share their contents; both are on the update history page. On 14 October 2026 (Update 6.0 public beta), Dirtyshadow warned "make sure the tanks are all the SAME SIZE" [S20].

Sources and version

Checked on 2026-10-21 against Update 6.0 (build 0.10.0.653173)