Moot yeah, I'm not worried about it though.
my setup is 2 oil pumping units going into 1 storage tank. that tank going to the distribution center.
3rd oil pump going into its own separate storage tank. the refinery goes only to that tank, and is making kerosene. I am not selling crude from that tank, only kerosene.
once I have more cash I will be making a military base.
from there I will start expanding east... it's wide open.
my alternate cash flow is raids. I have stolen about $180,000 so far, basically hit everyone in range 3 times that isn't protected by cease-fire.
the XXX thing is just me not typing all 3 other coordinates

I HIGHLY recommend an outpost and a minimum of 10 militia to attack with. I posted before each one steals only $1000 so if you send 10 you get $10,000 each raid. you attack their distribuition centers, as they are mostly "inactive" and havent collected the cash from it.
some HQ's have cash, but not most.
after the raid you have to collect the cash stolen from your own HQ.
the beauty is you can raid each building or distribution center 3 times, not just the player. there are a couple of guys near me with 2 distribution centers, thats 6 raids every 8 hours.
hope that helps. personally I'm not going to bother learning about the other refined products for a while, I want to raid and turtle a bit to prevent myself getting raided. Then I will start worrying about learning the higher end stuff. as it is right now there doesn't seem to be anyone really close that has much of a military network YET.
oh another thing... I have been basically spending all I can keeping cash low. I have 2 lvl 2 oil pumps, a lvl 2 storage tank, and lvl 2 dist. center, along with the outposts and militia (currently 30, and 5 more in queue)
last comment, I have found the higher score or something, the more it costs to clear land, it is now up to $140,000 to clear an obstructed area 