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In Pathfinder, in the magic items chapter it discusses oils under the potions section. An oil is essentially a potion that can be applied to whatever target you can interact with, following the rules for potions. The brew potion feat does not explicitly allow you to make oils. Is it safe to assume if you can craft potions that you can also craft oils?

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Yes

Oils are described under the Potions section, and there is no such feat as "Brew Oil", I would say that Oils and Potions are equivalent and both created with Brew Potion.

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I think the main difference is application method (swallowed vs. rubbed on one's belly). Really, I'd suggest that throwing a handful of herbs/alchemical ingredients into water would make a potion, whereas those same herbs/alchemical ingredients into oil would make an Oil.

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That is an excellent point, if you want to make potions vs oils outside of a game (ie in real life) the process is essentially the same, you're just using a different base. – Cthos May 23 '11 at 19:32
Looking at the section in the PF Core Rulebook it echoes that the difference in in the application. I'd argue that the two methods are interchangeable and wouldn't require my players to specifically make oils and potions. A potion of Fly would also serve as an oil of Fly. Granted, that's probably an oversimplification of the rules, but I don't see the reason to double the amount of a certain spell carried in potion/oil form. – GPierce May 24 '11 at 14:15
@Blob I'd disagree personally. The idea here is that if you don't have an oil handy, you're SOL if you want to rub it on someone who is unconscious for example, and thus have to force the potion down their throat which is a (I believe) full round action, vs applying an oil which is just a standard. They're pretty different in my eye, because of the method of application. – Cthos May 24 '11 at 14:28

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