If you’ve spent any time grinding to upgrade your Palworld base past the early stone and wood stage, you’ve probably run into a frustrating roadblock when you go to build your first refinery or electric machine. One of the most common questions new mid-game players search for is can you buy crude oil Palworld, since it doesn’t show up in the first few merchant stalls you find near the starting spawn. It’s easy to assume you can purchase every crafting material if you have enough Palcoins, but crude oil works a little differently than most common resources. This guide will break down exactly how to get crude oil, if buying it is an option, and the best ways to stock up for all your late-game crafting needs.
Can You Buy Crude Oil Directly in Palworld?
The short answer for vanilla single-player Palworld is no, you cannot buy crude oil from any standard NPC merchant. I spent two hours running around every small settlement and wandering merchant spawn on the starting half of the map when I first needed crude oil for my metal refinery, so I know how annoying this realization is. The game’s devs intentionally left crude oil out of NPC merchant stock to push players to explore the northern volcanic biome and unlock higher-tier tech before they can access late-game crafting materials. That doesn’t mean you have no low-effort options to get crude oil without mining it yourself, though. There are a few workarounds that feel almost like buying crude oil, especially if you play on multiplayer servers.
Low-Effort Alternatives to Buying Crude Oil
If you hate mining or just don’t want to risk the dangerous volcanic biome to get crude oil, these methods let you stock up with almost no manual work. They don’t involve buying from NPCs, but they’re as close as you’ll get to a passive or trade-based supply. You can unlock the oil well blueprint as soon as you reach level 32 and spend 3 ancient technology points, so you don’t have to wait until late game to access these methods.
Always pair your oil well with a feed box stocked with high-tier food like baked berries or meat skewers to keep your mining Pals working at maximum efficiency. I once forgot to restock my feed box for three days of in-game time and came back to zero new crude oil, so don’t make that mistake. This method is the best option for single-player players who can’t trade with other people, since it requires zero ongoing work after setup.
Where to Manually Farm Crude Oil If You Need It Fast
If you need crude oil right away and don’t have time to unlock the oil well or wait for Pals to farm it for you, you can harvest it directly from oil seeps in the northern volcanic biome. These seeps are easy to spot, as they’re dark black bubbling pools sticking out of the red volcanic rock. You need a pickaxe of at least iron quality to harvest crude oil from these seeps, so don’t head out to the biome without one, or you’ll waste a trip for zero resources.
You’ll also need to wear heat-resistant armor to survive the volcanic biome’s constant heat damage, and bring a strong Water-type Pal to defend yourself from aggressive Fire-type Pals like Ragnahawk and Blazamut that roam the area. I first tried to go to the biome without heat armor and died three times before I even got close to an oil seep, so don’t skip that prep step. Each oil seep gives you between 5 and 10 units of crude oil per full harvest, so you can stock up on 50 or more units in a single 10-minute trip if you plan ahead.
Common Uses for Crude Oil in Palworld
Crude oil is one of the most valuable mid to late-game resources in Palworld, and you’ll go through hundreds of units as you upgrade your base to full automation. The first thing you’ll use it for is refining into gasoline at a metal refinery, which is a core material for almost all high-tier tech. Gasoline is required to build and power most late-game base machines, including the electric furnace, the assembly line, and the flying mount glider upgrade. You can’t get access to any of these upgrades without a steady supply of crude oil, so it’s worth stocking up as early as possible.
Crude oil is also used directly to make plastic, which is the main component of circuit boards needed for all electric tech and high-tier weapons like the rocket launcher. If you want to build a fully automated base that runs without constant manual input, you will need at least 200 units of crude oil to get all the required machines set up. Don’t waste your small early stockpiles of crude oil on random low-tier recipes, save it for these core upgrades that will make your entire playthrough far easier.
At the end of the day, the answer to can you buy crude oil Palworld is a little complicated. You can’t purchase it from standard NPC merchants, but you can trade for it on multiplayer servers or set up a passive oil well farm that gives you unlimited crude oil with zero ongoing effort. Whichever method you choose, make sure you stock up early so you don’t get stuck waiting for crude oil when you’re ready to upgrade your base to late game. I keep a dedicated storage chest with at least 100 units of crude oil on hand at all times, and I’ve never run into a crafting bottleneck when I want to build new machines or upgrade my gear.