If you’ve spent hours grinding for late-game crafting materials and are stuck wondering where to find crude oil in Palworld, you’re not alone. Most new players stumble through the first 20 hours of the game relying on wood, stone, and fiber, only to realize crude oil is the backbone of every high-tech build from refrigerators to high-tier ammo. I spent three hours running around the wrong biomes my first time searching for this resource, so I’ve put together all the tips you need to skip the frustration and stock up fast. You don’t need end-game Pals to farm it efficiently, either, as long as you know exactly where to look and what tools to bring.
Exact Biomes Where to Find Crude Oil in Palworld
Crude oil only spawns in two specific biomes across the Palworld map, so you can skip scanning every inch of the starting grasslands or snowy peaks to save time. The first and most accessible spot is the northwestern desert biome, which sits just west of the starting plateau, past the level 20 neutral Pal spawn zones. You don’t need to unlock fast travel points for the far edges of the map to reach this area; you can glide there as early as level 20 if you have a decent mount.
The second biome with high crude oil spawn rates is the southern volcanic ash biome. This area is better for higher-level players, as it’s full of aggressive fire-type Pals that can hit hard if you’re undergeared. Crude oil seeps are easy to spot in both biomes: they look like dark, bubbling puddles with thin black smoke rising off the top, so you can see them from 50 feet away even when you’re gliding at high altitude.
Note that seeps never spawn in forest, mountain, or coastal biomes, no matter how much you search. I’ve wasted hours checking hidden caves and cliff edges in the starting zone before I learned this, so save yourself the trouble and head straight for the desert or volcanic zones first.
Required Tools and Pals for Efficient Crude Oil Farming
You can’t harvest crude oil with basic tools, so you’ll need to prepare a few items before you head out on your first run. The first non-negotiable item is a metal pickaxe or better; stone pickaxes won’t deal any damage to seeps, so you’ll waste time swinging for zero resources. You can craft a metal pickaxe as early as level 17, using 3 iron ingots, 2 wood, and 1 leather, so you don’t have to wait until late game to start farming.
Using the right Pals can cut your farming time in half, or even let you auto-harvest crude oil while you complete other tasks. Pals with level 2 or higher mining suitability are the only ones that can harvest seeps, and some have extra perks that make them perfect for the job. My top picks for crude oil farming are:
- Digtoise (level 3 mining, low stamina drain, available as early as level 22 in the edge of the desert biome)
- Reptyro (level 4 mining, can also smelt ore at your farming outpost if you need extra ingots for upgrades)
- Gorirat (level 3 mining, 50% higher carry capacity than most mining Pals so they don’t drop resources mid-harvest)
One quick tip: don’t bring fire-type Pals with you on farming runs, especially in the desert. They’ll accidentally set dry grass on fire if they attack a passing wild Pal, and the flames can knock you off your harvesting spot or even destroy small outpost buildings. I learned this the hard way when my Blazamut burned down my first fast travel outpost near the desert.
Best Crude Oil Farming Routes for Every Player Level
The best route for you depends entirely on your current player level and gear, so you don’t have to jump straight into the high-risk volcanic biome to get enough crude oil for your first builds. For players between level 20 and 30, stick to the eastern edge of the northwestern desert. There are 7 seeps within a 200-foot radius here, and the only aggressive Pals are occasional level 25 Foxparks that are easy to take down. You can get around 80 units of crude oil per 10-minute run on this route, which is more than enough to craft your first batch of polymer and circuit boards.
If you’re between level 30 and 45, head to the central desert canyon near the ancient ruin spawn point. There are 15 seeps spread along the canyon edge, and you can glide between them in 10 minutes to get 200+ units of crude oil per run. Always build a small outpost with a fast travel point near your chosen farming spot, so you don’t have to run 10 minutes from your main base every time you need to restock. You only need a bed, a storage chest, and a fast travel statue to make a functional outpost, so it doesn’t take much resources to set up.
For players level 45 and up, the southern volcanic ash biome is the best spot by far. There are 30+ seeps spread across the area, and you can farm sulfur at the same time to craft high-tier ammo and explosives. Just watch out for the roaming level 50 Blazamut spawns; they can one-shot undergeared players, so keep your distance or bring a strong ice-type Pal to take them down quickly.
Common Mistakes to Avoid When Farming Crude Oil
There are a few easy mistakes that can turn a quick farming run into a frustrating waste of time, and I’ve made almost all of them in my first playthrough. The first mistake is building a full base right on top of a seep cluster. The base build limit will block your Pals from harvesting half the seeps in the area, so you’ll lose out on half your potential yield. I had to tear down 80% of my first desert base to fix this mistake, so leave at least 20 feet of space between any base structures and nearby seeps.
Another common mistake is not bringing enough carry weight for your run. Crude oil weighs 1 unit per piece, and stacks to 50, so if you only have 100 carry weight, you’ll fill up halfway through your route and have to dump other valuable resources to keep farming. I always bring a Cattiva with me on runs for their extra carry weight buff, which lets me carry 150 more units of resources than I can alone.
Never leave your auto-farming outpost unguarded, either. Desert bandit raids are 3x more common in the desert and volcanic biomes, and they’ll steal all your stored crude oil and destroy your harvesting Pals if you don’t have defense Pals posted. I keep 2 level 30 Vanwyrm at my desert outpost at all times, and they take down raiders before they can even reach my storage chests. If you play on a multiplayer server, don’t worry about other players taking your seeps; they respawn every 7 in-game minutes, so there’s more than enough for everyone.
Once you lock in a reliable farming route for crude oil, you’ll wonder how you ever played Palworld without a steady stock of it. It’s the core ingredient for every high-tech build, from automated production lines to protective gear that lets you take on the game’s toughest boss Pals. I now keep a stock of 500+ crude oil at my main base at all times, and I never hit that frustrating roadblock of running out mid-project anymore. If you follow the tips we’ve covered, you’ll know exactly where to find crude oil in Palworld and be able to stock up faster than you ever thought possible.