Pump Jack Rust: Locations, Rates & How to Use It

Monument guide, updated 2026

The Pump Jack is the most misunderstood machine in Rust. Search for it and half the guides you find will cheerfully tell you to craft a Survey Charge, blow a hole in the ground, and build your own on the crater. That advice has been dead for years. You cannot craft a pump jack, you cannot research one, and you cannot place one anywhere on the map.

What you can do is walk up to one of the three that already exist, pour diesel into it, and let it print fuel for you. That is the whole game with this thing, and once you understand the numbers it is one of the better passive income machines a mid wipe group has access to.

This pump jack Rust guide covers all of it: exactly where all three spawn, the real output per diesel, how long a full load takes, whether it is actually worth your time in 2026, how to turn the crude into low grade on site, and what the Power Trip update from 6 August 2026 changed about the crude oil economy around it. Every number here is cross checked against the Facepunch wiki, RustClash, RustHelp, Corrosion Hour and Rustafied’s original patch notes.

TL;DR The Pump Jack in Rust is not craftable and not placeable. Exactly three spawn on every map, one each at Power Plant, Train Yard and Water Treatment, and they are public, so anyone can use them and anyone can empty them. They run on Diesel Fuel, not low grade. One diesel gives you 60 Crude Oil and 170 Low Grade Fuel in about 2 minutes 10 seconds. A full stack of 20 diesel is 1,200 crude and 3,400 low grade in roughly 43 minutes, and refining that crude at the standard 1 to 3 ratio takes the total haul to 7,000 low grade fuel. Power Plant is the best site by a mile because it has 3 diesel spawns, 2 oil refineries and 4 recyclers inside the same no build zone. No keycard, no fuse, no workbench required.
A Rust pump jack silhouetted against an orange sunset over water, an actual in-game screenshot showing the counterweight arm and walking beam of the oil pump jack on a rocky shoreline
The pump jack in the wild. You will never build one of these, but there are three waiting for you on every map.
3on every map
60crude per diesel
170low grade per diesel
0ways to craft one

What Is the Pump Jack in Rust?

The Pump Jack is a static oil extraction machine that turns Diesel Fuel into Crude Oil and Low Grade Fuel. Think of it as the fuel equivalent of a mining quarry: you feed it, you walk away, and it slowly fills its output slots while you go do something else.

Facepunch’s own item description still reads like it belongs to an older version of the game: “Extracts oil from the ground. Use a Survey Charge to determine the amount of oil available for extraction in any given area.” That second sentence is a fossil. Survey charges have nothing to do with pump jacks any more, and we will get into why in a moment.

The important thing to understand up front is that the pump jack is world furniture, not equipment. It is baked into three monuments the same way a recycler or a small oil refinery is baked into a monument. It has no owner, no lock and no building privilege. Whoever walks up to it next gets to use it, and whoever walks up after that gets to empty it.

That public nature is the single biggest thing to plan around, and it is why most solo players write the pump jack off entirely while organised duos and trios quietly farm it every wipe.

Rust Pump Jack stats card listing shortname mining.pumpjack, item ID minus 1130709577, not craftable, not player placeable, spawns at 3 static monuments, runs on diesel fuel, 60 crude plus 170 low grade per diesel in about 2 minutes 10 seconds, stack size 1, cannot be picked up
Every pump jack stat that matters, cross checked against three sources.

Pump Jack Rust Stats

StatValueNotes
Shortnamemining.pumpjackItem ID -1130709577
CraftableNoNo recipe exists anywhere
ResearchableNoNot on the tech tree either
Player placeableNoStatic world spawns only
Where it spawns3 monumentsPower Plant, Train Yard, Water Treatment
FuelDiesel FuelChanged from low grade in Dec 2022
Output per 1 diesel60 crude + 170 low gradeThe headline number
Time per 1 diesel~2 min 10 secAbout 29 diesel an hour at full tilt
HP2,500Effectively scenery, not a raid target
Stack size1Despawn 5 minutes
Can you pick it upNoNot even the admin spawned version
Keycard or fuse neededNoSits outside every monument puzzle
Why the times differ between guides Rustafied’s launch day patch notes for the diesel change said one diesel every five minutes. That figure was explicitly flagged as “subject to change” and it was changed. RustClash and Corrosion Hour both now put the burn at about 2 minutes 10 seconds, and RustClash’s fuel consumption table independently lists roughly 29 diesel an hour, which works out to almost exactly the same thing. Use 2:10.

You Cannot Craft or Place a Pump Jack

This is the number one thing people get wrong, so it deserves its own section.

The pump jack was added in Devblog 70 on 23 July 2015, and Garry’s write up at the time is charmingly simple: “I added the pumpjack to the game! This new piece of mining equipment works just like the quarry.” Back then it ran on low grade fuel, you surveyed a patch of ground, and if the crater coughed up fuel you built your own pump jack right there.

That era is long over. Player placed quarries and pump jacks were phased out, the Mining Quarry lost its recipe around Devblog 189, and both machines were rebuilt as fixed monuments scattered across the map for everyone to share. The blueprints were never given back.

Rust graphic explaining you cannot craft a pump jack, showing the survey charge, pump jack and mining quarry item renders each marked as not craftable, with a note that Devblog 70 added a placeable pump jack in 2015 but they are now static machines baked into the map that every player shares
Three items, one story. None of them will get you your own pump jack in 2026.
Survey charges are a trap The Survey Charge still exists and still has a blueprint attached to it, which is exactly why so much stale advice survives. It will not place a pump jack, it will not place a quarry, and nothing it reveals in the ground can be mined by you. It is a leftover from a version of Rust that no longer exists. Do not waste 30 gunpowder on one expecting a fuel farm.

So if a guide, a video thumbnail or an AI answer tells you to go survey a spot for your pump jack, you now know exactly how old that information is.

Pump Jack Locations in Rust: All Three Sites

There are only three pump jack Rust locations, and they never move. Every procedurally generated Rust map spawns exactly one pump jack at each of three monuments. There are no others, no hidden ones on the roadside, and no random beach spawns. If a map has all three monuments, it has three pump jacks.

Table of Rust pump jack locations comparing Power Plant, Water Treatment and Train Yard, showing one pump jack at each, the number of oil refineries, recyclers, diesel spawns on site and the radiation levels, with Power Plant the best site because it has 2 refineries, 4 recyclers and 3 diesel spawns
All three pump jack sites side by side. Power Plant is not a close call.
MonumentPump jacksOil refineriesRecyclersDiesel on siteRadiation (med / max)Scientists
Power PlantBest123 green + 1 red30 / 52None
Water TreatmentSafest121 green30 / 26None
Train Yard111 greenBring your own11 / 264

In all three cases the pump jack sits on the outskirts of the monument, outside the puzzle area and usually outside the buildings entirely. You are looking for the nodding walking beam arm, the classic oil derrick shape. You never need a green keycard, a blue keycard or an electric fuse to reach it.

Power Plant: the only site that closes the loop

The Rust Power Plant cooling towers glowing against a sunset, an actual in-game screenshot of the monument that holds the best pump jack in Rust because it also has three diesel spawns, two oil refineries and four recyclers on site
Power Plant gives you the fuel, the machine and the refineries without leaving the no build zone.

Power Plant is the correct answer for almost everyone. It has 3 diesel fuel spawns, so the monument literally supplies the fuel for its own pump jack. It has 2 small oil refineries, so you can convert the crude before you leave. Since the Power Trip update it also has 4 recyclers, including the new red one, so anything else you loot on the way round gets processed too. There are no scientists at all.

The only catch is radiation. Power Plant peaks at 52 rad in the sealed interior rooms, which is the highest of the three sites. The open areas sit at a median of zero and the pump jack itself is outside, so you rarely need a full hazmat suit just for the pump run.

Water Treatment: the quiet option

Aerial in-game screenshot of the Rust Water Treatment Plant settling tank, one of the three monuments with a pump jack, a quiet site with no scientists, median radiation of zero, three diesel spawns and two oil refineries
Water Treatment: fewer people, less radiation, same three diesel spawns.

Water Treatment is the sleeper pick. It matches Power Plant on 3 diesel spawns and 2 refineries, has no scientists, and its radiation maxes out at 26 rather than 52. It only has one recycler, and it is a much smaller no build zone at roughly 39,375 square metres, but if Power Plant is contested this is where you go.

Train Yard: the one to skip

Train Yard is the worst pump jack site and it is not particularly close. It has 4 scientists patrolling the switches, only 1 oil refinery, only 1 recycler, and crucially it does not have diesel fuel spawns of its own. You have to carry diesel in, fight or avoid scientists while you load up, and then either refine slowly through a single refinery or haul crude home. Run it only if it is the monument next door.

What to Bring on a Pump Jack Run

Rust pump jack loadout showing the four things to bring on a pump jack run: diesel fuel which is the only fuel it takes, wood for the on-site oil refineries, an optional hazmat suit, and plenty of empty inventory slots for the haul
The entire kit. No workbench tier, no keycard, no fuse.

This is one of the cheapest monument runs in the game to prepare for:

  • Diesel Fuel. The only fuel it accepts. A full stack is 20.
  • Wood. The on site refineries burn it, and they hand you charcoal back as a bonus.
  • A hazmat suit, optionally. Only if you plan to go inside the sealed rooms at Power Plant.
  • Empty inventory slots. Far more than you think. A full load is thousands of low grade.

How to Use a Pump Jack in Rust

Six step guide showing how to use a pump jack in Rust: loot diesel fuel first, find the pump jack on the outskirts of the monument, load the fuel barrel with up to 20 diesel, flip the switch, come back and empty the output, then refine the crude oil in the monument oil refineries
The six step pump jack run, in the order that actually works.
  1. Get diesel first. Diesel Fuel is loot only and cannot be crafted. Grab the three spawns at Power Plant or Water Treatment, or trade low grade for it at the Outpost Resource Exchange.
  2. Find the pump jack. It sits on the outskirts of the monument, outside the puzzle. Look for the nodding walking beam.
  3. Load the fuel slot. Hold E on the machine and drop diesel into the fuel barrel. Twenty diesel is a full stack and roughly 43 minutes of run time.
  4. Turn it on. Flip the switch and the arm starts moving. Output accumulates in the machine’s own slots as it burns.
  5. Come back and empty it. This is the risky part. See the warning below.
  6. Refine the crude on site. Do not carry raw crude home. Use the monument’s refineries.
The output is public There is no lock, no code and no building privilege on a pump jack. Anyone who walks past while it is running can hold E and take everything in the output slots. Solo players lose more fuel to this than to any other cause. Either stay in the area, run it with a partner, or load small amounts and collect often.

Pump Jack Rates: What One Diesel Actually Gives You

Here is the number every other guide buries, and it is the whole reason to care about pump jack Rust farming at all. One unit of Diesel Fuel produces 60 Crude Oil and 170 Low Grade Fuel and takes about 2 minutes 10 seconds to burn. Note that it gives you both. You are not choosing between crude and low grade, you get a pile of each.

Rust pump jack rates diagram showing one diesel fuel produces 60 crude oil and 170 low grade fuel in about 2 minutes 10 seconds, and that a full stack of 20 diesel yields 1,200 crude plus 3,400 low grade in 43 minutes, which refines up to a total haul of 7,000 low grade fuel
One diesel in, two resources out, and the full stack maths underneath.
Diesel loadedCrude oilLow grade (direct)Run timeTotal low grade after refining
160170~2 min 10 sec350
5300850~11 min1,750
106001,700~22 min3,500
20 (full stack)1,2003,400~43 min7,000

That final column is the one that matters, and it is simple arithmetic. Crude refines at a 1 to 3 ratio in a small oil refinery, so 1,200 crude becomes 3,600 more low grade. Add the 3,400 the pump jack gave you directly and a full stack of diesel is worth 7,000 low grade fuel.

To put 7,000 low grade in context: a minicopter holds 500 and burns 30 a minute. A full pump jack load is fourteen full minicopter tanks, or close to four hours of flight time, from about 43 minutes of machine time you spent doing something else.

Is the Pump Jack Worth It in 2026?

Honest answer: it depends entirely on where your diesel came from, and the veterans who tell you it is dead are half right.

Rust graphic answering whether the pump jack is worth it, comparing looted diesel which returns 350 low grade fuel per diesel as pure profit against bought diesel from Outpost which nets only about 50 low grade for a 15 percent margin, with a note that the December 2022 move to diesel fuel cut the old profit
The same machine is either free money or barely break even, depending on one variable.

If you loot your diesel: absolutely worth it

Diesel you found in a barrel or picked up off the ground at Power Plant cost you nothing but the walk. Every unit turns into 350 low grade. Three diesel spawns at the monument you are already standing in becomes 1,050 low grade for about seven minutes of machine time. That is a genuinely excellent return on zero investment.

If you buy your diesel: barely worth it

The Outpost Resource Exchange trades roughly 300 low grade for one diesel. Spend 300 to make 350 and your profit is 50 low grade per unit, a margin of about 15%, before you count the wood the refinery burns and the 43 minutes of exposure. On a busy PvP server that margin does not cover the risk of somebody emptying the output while you are away.

What changed, and why old guides rave about it Before the Quality of Life update on 1 December 2022, pump jacks ran on low grade fuel and roughly tripled whatever you put in. Facepunch moved quarries and pump jacks onto Diesel Fuel to bring them in line with the Giant Excavator, and the effective return on purchased fuel dropped to about 1.15x. That is why guides written before 2023 are wildly more enthusiastic than anyone who plays now. The machine is fine. The economics changed underneath it.

Where to Get Diesel for a Pump Jack

Diesel Fuel is loot only. There is no recipe, no blueprint and no way to make it, which surprises a lot of players. It also cannot be recycled. Full detail lives in the Rust diesel fuel guide, but the short version:

  • Monument spawns. Power Plant 3, Water Treatment 3, and it also spawns at Military Tunnels, Junkyard, Airfield, the Dome, Radtown and both oil rigs. Notably not Train Yard.
  • The Outpost Resource Exchange. Roughly 300 low grade for 1 diesel. Dynamic vendor pricing drifts this, so check before you commit a stack.
  • Diesel barrels. The red barrels themselves also give crude oil when you break them.

Because the two best pump jack monuments both spawn their own diesel, the natural loop is to loot the monument first, then feed whatever diesel you found straight into the machine on site.

Refining the Crude Oil

Crude Oil on its own does nothing. Facepunch’s description is blunt about it: “Raw Oil out of the ground, must be refined in a refinery to be used.” It stacks to 500 and despawns in 5 minutes on the ground, so treat it as an intermediate product and never as a haul.

Diagram showing how to refine crude oil in Rust, with 60 crude oil from the pump jack going into a small oil refinery which burns wood and makes charcoal, and coming out as 180 low grade fuel at a 1 to 3 return, plus a note that Power Plant and Water Treatment both have two refineries on site
1 crude becomes 3 low grade. Do it at the monument, not at home.

A Small Oil Refinery converts crude at a clean 1 to 3 ratio and burns wood while it works. The wood is not wasted either, because the refinery produces charcoal as a by product, and charcoal feeds gunpowder, which feeds explosives. Bring a stack of wood and you walk out with fuel and bomb feedstock at the same time.

Split the crude across all three input slots A small oil refinery has three input slots and processes them in parallel. Dumping your crude into one slot is roughly a third of the speed of splitting it across all three. On a 1,200 crude load that is the difference between a quick job and standing around.

Power Plant and Water Treatment each have two refineries on site, which means you can run 6 slots at once. Train Yard has one. That single fact is most of the reason Train Yard is the worst site.

Where to Get Crude Oil in Rust

The pump jack is the best crude source by rate, but it is not the only one, and for casual play it is not even the most convenient one.

Ranked chart of every crude oil source in Rust showing the pump jack at 60 crude per diesel, red oil barrels at 15 to 20 crude each, the new Dome crude pumps that run for 20 minutes once Power Plant is powered, fuel crates at 15 to 40 crude and diesel barrels at 15 to 20 crude
Every crude oil source ranked. Barrels beat the pump jack on convenience every time.
SourceCrude per pullSetup neededBest for
Pump Jack60 per dieselDiesel, and a trip to one of 3 monumentsBulk fuel farming
Red oil barrels15 to 20None at allEveryday low grade
Fuel crates15 to 40Travel to harbours or oil rigsOpportunistic looting
Diesel barrels15 to 20NoneDoubles as a diesel source
Dome crude pumpsNewA 20 minute runPower Plant powered up, oil rig switchOrganised groups, post Power Trip

For most players, roadside oil barrels remain the honest answer for casual fuel. The pump jack earns its place when you want thousands of low grade in one sitting rather than dozens.

What the Power Trip Update Changed

Power Trip, which landed on 6 August 2026, is the biggest monument overhaul Rust has had in years. It is worth being precise about what it did and did not do here, because a lot of coverage is muddling the two.

Actual in-game screenshot from the Rust Power Trip update showing a player driving a tanker truck module up to the new crude oil pumps at the Dome and filling it with a green hose, the new rival crude oil source to the pump jack
The Dome’s new crude oil pumps, filling a tanker module. A different route to the same resource.

It did not change the pump jack itself

The pump jack’s fuel, output and locations are all untouched. Sixty crude and 170 low grade per diesel is still the number. Anyone telling you Power Trip buffed or nerfed the pump jack is guessing.

It did give crude oil a serious rival

The Dome now has three working crude oil pumps that fill a vehicle tanker module. They are gated behind the new power grid: once the Power Plant has enough Heavy Fuses in it, a switch inside the Large Oil Rig red puzzle room starts crude flowing to the Dome for a 20 minute run. Small Oil Rig has its own switch that pumps at half the rate, and running both together produces roughly 1.5 times the Large Oil Rig figure.

Exact Dome yields are still moving Sources disagree substantially on how much crude a Dome run actually produces, and Facepunch have said the system is still being tuned. The ratio between small, large and both is confirmed. The absolute numbers are not, so treat any specific figure you see quoted as provisional.

It made two of the three pump jack sites busier

This is the part that changes your day to day. Power Plant is now the beating heart of the entire server economy, because the whole grid depends on Heavy Fuses being fed into it. Water Treatment got new gearboxes and water stations that people have to visit. Both of those monuments hold pump jacks.

The practical upshot: the pump jack got more dangerous without changing at all. There is simply more foot traffic walking past your unlocked output slots than there was in July. If you want the full breakdown of the new grid, the power levels and the satellite crash event it unlocks, that is covered in the Power Plant guide.

Pump Jack vs Mining Quarry vs Giant Excavator

All three run on diesel, and players constantly mix them up. They do completely different jobs.

MachineProducesFuelWhereUse it when
Pump JackCrude oil and low grade fuelDiesel3 monumentsYou need fuel, not ore
Mining QuarrySulfur, HQM or stone and metalDieselStatic quarry monumentsYou need a slow ore trickle
Giant ExcavatorStone, metal frags, sulfur ore, HQM oreDieselDesert biome, 1 per mapYou need ore in industrial quantities

The one liner: the excavator makes you rich in ore, the pump jack makes you rich in fuel, and the quarry sits awkwardly between them doing neither especially well. If you have a stack of diesel and a choice, the excavator’s 10,000 stone or 2,000 sulfur ore per diesel is a bigger prize than 350 low grade. Run the pump jack when you are already at Power Plant anyway.

Pump Jack Pro Tips

Everything below is about the gap between a full haul and a robbed one, which is where most pump jack Rust runs actually go wrong.

Five Rust pump jack tips: bring a friend because the output slots are public, run Power Plant instead of Train Yard, load 20 diesel and go do a monument loop while it runs, bring wood for the refineries to get charcoal back, and remember radiation peaks at 52 in the sealed rooms but the pump jack sits outside
Five things that separate a full haul from a robbed one.
  • Time it to a monument loop. Forty three minutes is almost exactly one full monument run. Load 20 diesel, do the Power Plant puzzle, hit the recyclers, and collect on your way out.
  • Load small if you are solo. Five diesel is eleven minutes. You can loot the monument and be back before anyone finds it. Twenty diesel unattended is a gift to whoever wanders past.
  • Refine before you leave, always. Crude is dead weight. Low grade is fuel. Never walk home carrying 1,200 crude when six refinery slots are sitting right there.
  • Take the charcoal seriously. A big refine run produces a lot of charcoal, which is the bottleneck ingredient for gunpowder and eventually C4. Check the raid calculator if you want to know what that is worth.
  • Check it is not already running. If the arm is nodding when you arrive, someone else’s diesel is in there and someone else is coming back for it. Either take the output and accept the fight, or leave and come back later.

Your fuel stockpile does not survive the wipe. Every barrel of low grade you pump goes in the bin on force wipe day, along with the blueprints on most servers. Know exactly how long you have to spend it.

See the wipe countdown

Pump Jack Rust FAQ

How much does 1 diesel give you in a Rust pump jack?
One Diesel Fuel gives you 60 Crude Oil and 170 Low Grade Fuel. You get both, not one or the other. If you then refine the 60 crude at the standard 1 to 3 ratio you gain another 180 low grade, so a single diesel is worth 350 low grade fuel in total.
How long does a pump jack take in Rust?
A pump jack burns one Diesel Fuel roughly every 2 minutes 10 seconds, which is about 29 diesel an hour. A full stack of 20 diesel therefore takes around 43 minutes to run all the way through.
How do you use a pump jack in Rust?
Hold E on the pump jack, put Diesel Fuel into its fuel slot, then flip the switch to turn it on. The arm starts nodding and crude oil and low grade fuel build up in the output slots. Come back later and hold E again to empty it. No keycard, fuse or workbench is needed.
Where can I find pump jacks at Rust monuments?
There are exactly three pump jacks on every map, one each at Power Plant, Train Yard and Water Treatment. Each one sits on the outskirts of its monument, outside the puzzle area. Power Plant is the best of the three because it also has three diesel spawns, two oil refineries and four recyclers on site.
Can you craft a pump jack in Rust?
No. The pump jack is not craftable and not researchable, and it is not on the tech tree. It was placeable by players back when Devblog 70 added it in 2015, but that was removed years ago. Today the only pump jacks in the game are the three static ones baked into the map.
Can you place your own pump jack with a survey charge?
No. Survey charges no longer place pump jacks or mining quarries. The survey charge still exists in the game files, which is why a lot of old guides still describe the surveying process, but nothing it reveals in the ground can be extracted by you.
What fuel does a pump jack use in Rust?
Diesel Fuel. It used to run on low grade fuel, but the Quality of Life update on 1 December 2022 moved quarries and pump jacks onto diesel to bring them in line with the Giant Excavator. Diesel is loot only and cannot be crafted.
Is the pump jack worth it in Rust?
It depends on where the diesel came from. Diesel you looted turns into 350 low grade fuel per unit, which is excellent for free fuel. Diesel bought at the Outpost Resource Exchange costs about 300 low grade, so you only net around 50 per unit, a margin of roughly 15%. Loot your diesel and it is well worth running.
Can other players steal from a pump jack?
Yes. Pump jacks have no lock, no code and no building privilege. Anyone who walks past can hold E and take everything in the output slots, including the diesel you loaded. Never leave a large load running unattended on a populated server.
Can you pick up or move a pump jack?
No. Pump jacks cannot be picked up, moved or destroyed for parts. They are static world objects, the same as a monument recycler. You also cannot build around them, because all three sit inside their monument’s no build zone.
Does the Power Trip update change the pump jack?
No. The Power Trip update from 6 August 2026 left the pump jack’s fuel, output and locations completely untouched. What it did change is the crude oil economy around it, by adding working crude oil pumps at the Dome that are unlocked once the Power Plant has enough power.
What is the best pump jack location in Rust?
Power Plant. It is the only pump jack site that supplies its own fuel, with three diesel spawns, and it has two oil refineries and four recyclers inside the same no build zone. That means you can loot the diesel, run the pump jack and refine the crude without ever leaving the monument.
Does Train Yard have a pump jack?
Yes, Train Yard has one pump jack, but it is the worst of the three sites. It has no diesel spawns of its own, only one oil refinery, only one recycler, and four scientists patrolling the monument. Run Power Plant or Water Treatment instead unless Train Yard is right next door.
How much crude oil does a full stack of diesel make?
A full stack is 20 diesel, which produces 1,200 crude oil and 3,400 low grade fuel over about 43 minutes. Refining the 1,200 crude gives you another 3,600 low grade, taking the total haul to 7,000 low grade fuel.
Do you need a hazmat suit for the pump jack?
Usually not. All three pump jacks sit outside on the edge of their monument where radiation is minimal. Power Plant peaks at 52 radiation but only in its sealed interior rooms, and Water Treatment maxes out at 26. Bring a hazmat only if you are also doing the monument’s puzzle.

Sources