Energy to Oil Conversion

As determined by Steel et al.:

The amount of energy used in conversion is based on your conversion tech. The amount of oil that is converted is capped by your Industrial Capacity. You get oil equal to 1/10 of your available IC (with 150 IC you would get 15 oil converted).

Conversion is automatically activated when the energy stockpile is more than twice the size of the oil stockpile. Your daily oil consumption doesn't really factor in (other than in terms of how it changes the stockpiles). Conversion is automatic - you can not decide to turn it on or off.

Techs that increase your oil conversion modifiers only decrease the amount of energy used - the amount of oil produced remains the same. For example, if you are converting 100 energy to 10 oil, and you develop the technology for .25 oil conversion, you will then convert 40 energy to get 10 oil, and with the third tech you will use 25 energy to get 10 oil. You use/save more energy, but get no more oil from better conversion techs, until you research the very last tech and get a very small increase.

The best solution often is to trade for oil rather than letting automatic conversion kick in, or to trade away your energy. If automatic conversion starts up, it will run as long as your energy stockpile is more than twice your oil stockpile. You can also negotiate one time deals of up to 5000 energy or any other tradable item to see how much oil you can get.