How do you clean lamp oil out of a couch?

get out as much as you can using a WHITE towel, the only thing that will break it down is not a soap, it would be a solvent. A volatile dry solvent (perchloretheline) commonly used at dry cleaning shops. Pick up a phone book, look under cleaning-suppliers. find a place that sells carpet cleaning chemicals, (if you live in a metropolitan area, this should be easy) ask for a VDS or clean, dry solvent (not citrus based).