Large Oil Rig Rust: Levels, Keycards, Heavy Scientists & Loot (2026)

The Large Oil Rig is the biggest loot run in Rust that you can do without a single keycard puzzle. It is a seven level offshore platform with a helipad on top, 23 to 27 scientists on patrol, 2 elite crates, 8 military crates, three keycard rooms and a locked crate that calls in 10 to 12 heavy scientists the moment you start the hack.

It also changed more in 2026 than in the five years before it. Scientist boats now patrol around it, a destructible blocker sits on the red card route, and the red room holds the switch that pumps crude oil to the Dome. This large oil rig Rust guide covers every level, what to bring, the heavy scientist fight, the new boats and blocker, the crude pump, the camera codes and the timers.

• What It Is
• Stats
• Every Level
• Keycards and Blocker
• What to Bring
• Heavy Scientists
• Boats and Getting There
• Crude Oil Pump
• Camera Codes
• Large vs Small
• Tips
• FAQ

What Is the Large Oil Rig in Rust?

The Large Oil Rig is an offshore monument that Facepunch added in April 2019, a month after the Small Oil Rig. It is modelled on a real jack-up drilling rig and is nearly twice the size of the small one. Every procedural map has one, placed in deep water past the Cargo Ship lane, and the gas flare on top is visible from most of the coast at night.

There are two ways to run it. The quiet way is a normal loot run: clear the scientists level by level, open the crates, swipe the card rooms and leave. The loud way is the locked crate on Level 6. Hacking it sets off sirens, puts a marker on every player’s map and brings a CH-47 Chinook full of heavy scientists onto the helipad. The crate is the reason most teams go, because it always holds 2 Advanced Blueprint Fragments.

If you want both rigs side by side, our Rust Oil Rig guide covers the Small Oil Rig run too. This page goes deeper on the large one.

Large Oil Rig Stats

Large Oil Rig Levels, One by One

Scientists move between levels, so these are starting counts, not promises. Since the Naval Update in February 2026 the rig scientists also run newer AI that takes cover, flanks and throws smoke, so pulling them around corners works better than trading shots in the open.

Keycards, Fuse and the Monument Blocker

All three card rooms on the Large Oil Rig are optional extra loot. None of them gate the locked crate. The rig is already powered, so there is no fuse box and you never need an Electric Fuse.

• Green keycard, Level 3. A small room with about three containers. Green cards drop from scientists all the time, so this one is basically free.
• Blue keycard, Level 4. Four military crates. The best value card on the rig.
• Red keycard, Level 6. The white admin room with around seven containers, the densest loot on the monument. It also holds the crude oil switch for the Dome.

Since the Breach and Clear update on 3 September 2026, the red card route has a monument blocker in front of it. It is a heap of welded junk that no keycard opens. It takes about 1 C4 or 5 satchel charges to break, and once someone breaks it, it stays gone for the rest of the wipe. So on wipe day bring the boom, and later in the wipe check whether someone already did it for you.

What to Bring to the Large Oil Rig

Heavy Scientists and the Locked Crate

The locked crate sits on Level 6 by the helipad. Look at the laptop and press E. No keycard, no fuse. The 15 minute countdown starts, sirens spin up across the rig, and the crate appears on everyone’s map.

1. 0:00. The hack starts and the alarm goes off.
2. About 1 minute in. A CH-47 Chinook arrives, touches down on the helipad and unloads 10 to 12 heavy scientists. It is one drop, not waves.
3. Right after. The heavies sweep the top deck. If they find nobody, they drop into normal patrols and spread out.
4. 15:00. The crate unlocks for anyone, not just your team.

Each heavy scientist has 300 HP, double a normal scientist, and carries a M249, minigun, Spas-12 or military flamethrower. They take about five headshots each. Each one has roughly a 20% chance to drop a minigun and the same for a flamethrower, so a dozen heavies is a real shot at both.

The crate is a normal hackable crate: 2 Advanced Blueprint Fragments and a Metal Armor Insert every time, plus good odds of a Targeting Computer, metal armor, rifles and 140 to 160 scrap. The full table with drop chances is in our locked crate guide. Five fragments buys a Workbench Level 3, so three Large Rig runs is your bench.

Scientist Boats and How to Get There

The Naval Update (5 February 2026) made the approach part of the run. Scientist boats now spawn at the Large Oil Rig with the crate, and armed AI RHIBs circle the rig to keep players away. They respawn every time the rig resets. You can kill the crew and take the boat and its loot, and a stolen boat stays in the world after the reset, which makes the patrol a free RHIB if you win.

• RHIB. The default. Carries a team and their loot and can take the patrol on head to head. Park under the rig, not at the dock.
• Submarine. The moonpool under the rig (added April 2024) lets you dock below the waterline and climb a tube to Level 3 with no scientists in it. It also slips past the boat patrol.
• Minicopter or Scrap Heli. Fast, ignores the boats, lands on the helipad. Land low if you can, because the helipad is where the heavies arrive.
• Swimming with a diving tank and fins. Slow, but nothing to lose and hard to spot at night.

The Crude Oil Pump to the Dome

The Power Trip update (6 August 2026) tied the oil rigs to the Dome. Once someone gets the Power Plant to phase 3, the switch inside the Large Oil Rig red card room comes alive. Flip it and the Dome pumps crude for 20 minutes. The large rig gives the full rate, about 3,000 crude split across the three pumps, twice the Small Oil Rig switch (about 1,500), and running both gives about 1.5 times as much (about 4,500). The full crude oil breakdown is in our crude oil guide.

You cannot pick the crude up by hand. You need a modular car with a tanker module, a hose tool to connect it to the pump, and a car lift to unload it. The October 2026 update also added a short delay before the oil starts flowing after the switch is flipped. Refine the crude into low grade fuel at a refinery.

Large Oil Rig Camera Codes

The Large Oil Rig has 13 CCTV cameras and the codes are the same on every server. Type them into a Computer Station exactly as written.

Check OILRIG2DOCK and OILRIG2HELI before you burn fuel getting out there. Every other monument code is in our CCTV codes list.

Respawn and reset timers

Large Oil Rig vs Small Oil Rig

The locked crate loot is the same on both, so the Large Oil Rig only pays more if you want the extra elite and military crates. A duo should usually take the Small Oil Rig instead. Other high tier runs worth comparing are Launch Site and the Missile Silo.

Large Oil Rig Tips

• Clear before you hack. Kill every scientist and loot the card rooms first. Then start the crate with your hands free.
• Hold Level 5, not the helipad. The heavies land on top and sweep it first. Let them come down to you.
• Put one player on the water. The heavies take a few minutes. The rest of the 15 minutes is about the boats that heard the siren.
• Mind the 24 minute respawn. If the hack drags on, the scientists you killed on the way up come back and your exit is not clear any more.
• Steal the patrol boat. Killing the scientist RHIB crew gives you a spare boat for the trip home.
• Watch the wipe clock. Rig runs are best early, when the fragments still matter. Check the force wipe countdown before you plan the week.

Large Oil Rig Rust FAQ

Sources

• Facepunch Rust Wiki: Large Oil Rig
• Facepunch: Naval Update (scientist boats at Large Oilrig)
• Facepunch: Power Trip update (crude oil to the Dome)
• Rustafied: Breach and Clear update (monument blockers)
• Rustafied: oil rig anti-camping radiation (November 2023)
• Corrosion Hour: Large Oil Rig monument guide