If you’ve spent any time working toward late-game base upgrades or high-tier weapons in Palworld, you’ve almost certainly hit a point where you need to track down rarer resources that don’t spawn in your starting meadow. One of the most frustrating gaps new players run into is figuring out where to get crude oil in Palworld, since it doesn’t appear as obvious as wood, stone, or even ore that you can mine out of cliff faces. I wasted nearly three hours wandering through forest and snow biomes looking for it when I first hit level 20, so I put together this guide to save you that same headache. We’ll cover everything from the best farming spots for all player levels to what you’ll need to harvest it safely, and how to use it once you’re back at your base.
Where to Get Crude Oil in Palworld: Top 3 Farming Spots
Crude oil only spawns from bubbling black seeps that stick up from the ground in specific biomes, so you won’t find it lying around loose or dropping from Pals. The spots you pick will depend almost entirely on your player level and the gear you have available, so don’t feel pressured to head straight to the most high-yield spots if you’re still early in your playthrough. Early game players should stick to the ravine seeps first to avoid getting one-shot by high-level aggressive Pals that patrol the higher-yield areas. If you’re still not sure where to get crude oil in Palworld for your first batch of gasoline, start with the ravine seeps, no question.
The first spot, and the best for players below level 25, is the small cluster of seeps just outside the Ravine Entrance on the western edge of the starting map. There are only 4 seeps here, but the highest level Pal that wanders the area is a level 17 Nitewing, which most players can take down or outrun by the time they need crude oil. You won’t get hundreds of units an hour here, but it’s more than enough to craft your first few batches of gasoline for early generators.
If you’re level 25 or higher with basic metal armor, head to the Windtorn Foothills desert biome in the northeast corner of the map. This area has dozens of crude oil seeps scattered across its western edge, and you can easily farm 100+ units in a 20 minute run if you avoid the aggressive Pals that roam the area. Just watch out for level 30+ Anubis and Suzaku spawns, both of which can take out undergeared players in two hits or less.
The highest-yield, lowest-competition spot is the southern edge of the Mount Obsidian volcanic biome. The seeps here are less spread out than the desert, and very few players farm here early on because of the high heat and level 35+ Jormuntide Ignis spawns. If you have heat resistant armor and a strong enough team to handle the occasional fire Pal, you can farm 200+ units of crude oil in a single run here.
Gear and Pals You Need to Farm Crude Oil Safely
You don’t need any special tools like a pickaxe or axe to harvest crude oil, but there are a few non-negotiable items you should bring with you to avoid wasting time or dying mid-run. No matter where to get crude oil in Palworld you choose to farm, these items will make the process way smoother. I’ve forgotten every single one of these at least once, so I’ve narrowed it down to the absolute must-haves:
You can also bring a fighting Pal with you if you plan to farm in the higher level biomes, but it’s not strictly necessary if you’re good at avoiding spawns. You don’t have to kill any Pals to get crude oil, which is a nice change from other rare resources that only drop from boss fights or limited-time events. All you have to do is walk up to a seep, hold the interact button for 2 seconds, and you’ll get 2-4 units of crude oil per seep.
What to Do With Crude Oil Once You Have It
Raw crude oil has almost no direct uses on its own, so the first thing you should do when you get back to your base is refine it into gasoline. You’ll need a standard Refinery structure to do this, and 2 units of crude oil will make 1 unit of gasoline. It takes about 10 seconds to refine a batch, so you can process a full stack of 100 crude oil in just a few minutes if you leave the refinery running while you do other base tasks.
Prioritize refining crude oil into gasoline first before you save any raw crude for other uses, because gasoline is the core component of most late-game upgrades. The most common use for gasoline is fueling generators, which power all of your late-game base appliances including electric furnaces, assembly lines, cooling systems, and even Pal healing stations. A single generator runs for 30 minutes on 10 units of gasoline, so you’ll go through it fast if you have a large base.
Gasoline is also used to craft high-tier ammo including rockets and grenades, which are essential for taking down Alpha Pals and tower bosses that are too strong for standard bow or gun ammo. You’ll also need it to craft vehicle parts for the ATV, which lets you traverse the entire map 2x faster than even the fastest Pal mount, and carry more resources back from farming runs.
I usually keep a stack of 100 gasoline in my base storage at all times, so I never run out when I need to power my assembly line for ammo runs or keep my cooling systems running during summer heat waves. If you play on a multiplayer server, it’s also a great trading resource for players who don’t want to take the time to farm it themselves.
Common Crude Oil Farming Mistakes to Avoid
After farming hundreds of units of crude oil across multiple playthroughs, I’ve made almost every mistake you can make when tracking it down. Even if you know exactly where to get crude oil in Palworld, making these simple mistakes will turn a quick farming run into a frustrating waste of time. These are the most common ones that waste time or cost you valuable resources, so you can skip learning them the hard way.
The first mistake I see all the time is players heading to the desert biome before level 25 with no heat resistant armor. I did this on my first playthrough, and I got one-shot by a level 30 Anubis before I even found my first seep. I lost half the materials I was carrying, and had to walk all the way back from my starting base to get my dropped items, which wasted nearly an hour of play time.
Another common mistake is forgetting to mark seep spots on your map once you find them. Seeps don’t despawn, so once you find a cluster of 5+ seeps in a low-risk area, you can come back to it every time you need more crude oil. You can place up to 100 custom markers on your map, so don’t be afraid to use them for resource spots instead of only marking base locations and boss spawns.
You also want to avoid farming seeps during in-game heat waves if you’re in the desert or volcanic biomes. Even with heat resistant armor, heat waves will drain your HP twice as fast as normal sunny weather, and you’ll end up wasting all your healing items just to stay alive while you harvest. If you log on and see a heat wave active, stick to the low-risk ravine seeps or work on base tasks until the weather clears.
Figuring out where to get crude oil in Palworld is one of the biggest gateways to unlocking all the fun late-game content, from high-powered weapons to fast vehicles to fully automated base systems. You don’t need to grind for hours or beat super hard bosses to get it, either—even new players can get enough for their first generator from the low-risk ravine seeps with minimal gear. Just make sure you bring the right supplies, mark your favorite farming spots, and refine all that crude into gasoline as soon as you get back to base. If you’re playing on a multiplayer server, you can even set up a small outpost near a seep cluster to cut down on travel time even more. Happy farming, and don’t forget to keep an eye out for those aggressive Anubis spawns in the desert!