Oil in HoI4 closely mimics crude oil production in real-life 1936

[billcorr]

HoI4's distribution of oil closely reflects actual crude oil production in 1936
(Edit: These numbers do not include synthetic oil production)

HoI4 oil data from
http://www.hoi4wiki.com/Countries
http://www.hoi4wiki.com/List_of_states

Real world oil production data from
http://images.library.wisc.edu/EcoN...1940/reference/econatres.minyb1940.awhite.pdf page 1017

These real world crude oil data are displayed here in the spoiler:

Spoiler: Crude petroleum produced in principal countries 1936 to 1940

From
http://images.library.wisc.edu/EcoN...1940/reference/econatres.minyb1940.awhite.pdf

 

[billcorr]

In HoI4, there are 2,022 units of oil. These 2,022 units do not take into account increases in oil units granted by national focuses.

Multiplying 2,022 times the real world percentage distribution (year 1936) results in a number of HoI4 oil units that can be used to compare HoI4 national or territorial oil units with 1936 production numbers.

 

[Riktol]

That's very interesting.
No doubt some one else will have some lengthy reason as to why they shouldn't have used this data or added e^-i*pi to all values, someone will demand to know why the devs hate Burma but love China and someone else will demand to know why they gave Japan the oil in Sakhalin. (Personally I don't care but you know what these forums are like)
Have you considered running all the national focuses and seeing how well it matches the final production after the war?

 

[Transistorm]

Very interesting information, thank you for compiling it, useful to compare historically even ingame.

 

[Gamer_1745]

Germany tried to expand it's oil production by test drilling to find more oil fields as part of the 4 Year Plan, it was largely unsuccessful.

Event Image from Third Reich Events mod.

Even before 1936 Germany had started commercial level of synthetic oil production and this likely part of the expansion of German oil production in the 1936-40 expansion document.

I note that Czech oil is missing from the game.

Countries could expand their oil production simply by pumping more from existing oil fields, but this can deplete the field faster. Other countries like Iran were limited more by a lack of equipment to drill, pump & transport the oil than the level of reserves.

 

[billcorr]

Even before 1936 Germany had started commercial level of synthetic oil production and this likely part of the expansion of German oil production in the 1936-40 expansion document.

Thanks for the feedback regarding synthetic oil production. I've edited the original post to clarify that the HoI4 distribution within the game closely reflects 1936 crude oil production by country.

Good thought about the synthetic oil.

But I don't think that the real world synthetic oil production numbers were incorporated into the 1936-1940 expansion document. The synthetic oil production numbers are separate, I believe. I'll attempt to tease apart crude oil vs synthetic oil production in a future posting (unless someone else wishes to do so).

I note that Czech oil is missing from the game.

The available evidence indicates that HoI4 resource numbers are based on 1936 real world production numbers. If that is the case,

Czech crude oil production in 1936 was 127k barrels out of a world production total of 1,791,540k barrels ... or 0.0071% (yes, percent).

0.000071 x 2,022 HoI4 oil units = 0.144 units of HoI4 oil. Doesn't quite make it onto the game board.

Countries could expand their oil production simply by pumping more from existing oil fields, but this can deplete the field faster.

Impressive knowledge of the oil industry. Well done. The Canadian wartime oil pumping experience illustrates this point about depleting their oil field faster.

In 1942, The Canadians reached peak oil during the war when they dropped the pressure in the Turner Oil Fields.

http://history.alberta.ca/energyher...he-turner-valley-gas-plant/opportunities.aspx

After 1942 until the end of the war, Canada produced less and less oil every year (page 986).

Edit: 10 million barrels in 1942 represented 0.478% of world production (page 987). A bit of dodgy math here, but if you multiply 0.00478 by 2,022 oil units, that equates to 9.7 HoI4 oil units. This suggests that Canada should get 10 oil (not 36) from its Turner Valley Oil Field national focus.

 

[PrinceOfMacedon]

Is there any data about 1939? Since countries can construct more oil field, so the actual amount of oil can be change overtime. In vanilla, the number of oil and other resource is not change, but in the upcoming Waking the Tiger, there can be decisions that increase resource production, it will be nice that if those decisions match the real-life data as well.

 

[lordgoof]

Wheres my Albanian oil already. I want to be able to remove my mod.