ASBs fill the Axis gas tank, December 1941

[raharris1973]

The Matzen oilfield of Austria and Schoonbeek oilfield of Netherlands and all their refining equipment and infrastructure are ISOT from the beginning of the postwar peak production years back in time to their then Nazi occupied locations on December 10th, 1941.

All the oilfields, production and distribution infrastructure of Libya from its modern production peak time is ISOT back to December 10th, 1941. But uptime resources and infrastructure only "lands" downtime on Italian or Axis controlled ground, not British or Free French. If the British capture ground, the infrastructure vanishes, even if the Allies didn't damage it; if the Italians/Axis recover Libyan ground (Cyrenaica), uptime oil infrastructure miraculously appears. If it is freshly bombed downtime though, it stays damaged unless given a downtime fix. Also, the 1960s versions of Sicily's Ragusa and Gela oilfields are ISOT back to December 10th, 1941. So is the largest current oilfield in Europe west of Russia, the Patos-Marinza of Albania.

The Daqing (Manchuria), Liaohe (Manchuria), and Shengli (Shandong) top three historical oilfield of the PRC are ISOTed from the beginning of their peak production years and also ISOTed back to December 10, 1941.

All the oilfields, wells, rigs, ancillary modern pumping and storage and transport equipment onsite and links to external infrastructure and onsite offices and manuals and control machinery, and individual worker equipment usually left onsite go back with the oilfields. No personnel go back however.

The Axis powers have a windfall of oil supplies they didn't have in OTL, they have equipment and facilities they don't exactly know firsthand to maintain, but they can tell it's important and they can try to figure out things from common sense, instructions, and trial and error.

How is their POL and overall logistic and operational situation affected for 1942 and the rest of the war?

 

[History Learner]

I doubt this changes much in the Pacific; the specifics of the strategic situation necessitated the contours of the way the Axis offensives played out in that region. It is in Europe that this presents the most possibilities of change, as Italy was constrained in its actions against Malta due to the fuel supply of the Italian Navy and the German decision for Fall Blau was intimately tied into the desire to secure the oil fields of Maikop and Grozny. If, by April of 1942, the oil is flowing at a steady pace, then Hitler and Mussolini have some big decisions to make with regards to their strategic goals for the year.

If the oil is flowing, the strategic threat posed by the Crimea is less obvious; Hitler's desire to take Sevastopol was at least partially informed by concern that the VVS could use it to conduct bombing raids on Romanian oilfields. If that is a less pressing concern, then it's more likely the Axis do the bare minimum of Operation Bustard Hunt, which eliminated the possibility of Soviet resupply efforts to the fortress. With that accomplished, Manstein's 11th AOK can be transferred northwards to Leningrad, for the proposed Nordlicht operation. Most likely Leningrad falls, which will dramatically increase the pressure on Finland to move against the Murmansk Railway and thus cut the Northern Lend Lease route. Further south, without the need for the Caucasus oil, AGS can just do Blau I through III, without the IV variant which had the mad dash for the Caucasus. The Soviets lose the Donets Basin, Stalingrad's industry and the Volga grain trade, but they don't lose Maikop here. That does, however, mean AGS is not over-extended and thus can focus on clear its flanks and enact strong defensive positions on river lines. End result of this is failed, costly Soviet counter-offensives in the Winter of 1942-1943.