This paper examines post-refinery transition in the Whangārei District of Aotearoa New Zealand after the closure of the Marsden Point Oil Refinery. Rather than treating closure only as industrial decline or economic redevelopment, it asks how communities continue to make place after oil. Using a qualitative, multi-method approach, the research draws on archival material, interviews, informal conversations, field observation, and photography. The findings show that Whangārei’s transition is layered and uneven: refinery memory remains embedded in landscapes, buildings, conversations, and social spaces, while residents and institutions adapt through community services, tourism, recreation, and cultural production. Art and cultural expression do not replace the refinery economy, but help Whangārei represent itself after oil. This paper reframes post-industrial transformation as an ongoing process of infrastructure afterlife, everyday resilience, and place remaking.