How to get oil in ARK: Lost Island

ARK: Lost Island has been one of the most popular survival games ever since its launch back in December 2021. It is an exciting package filled with new creatures, new locations and new challenges. Just like every other survival game, the objective of ARK: Lost Island is to survive by collecting resources, building bases and items, and fighting ferocious creatures.

One of the most important resources in the game is oil. In ARK: Lost Island, oil can be mined from oil veins underneath water bodies or from oil rocks on land. Using forges, oil can be refined into gasoline. Oil is also needed to craft various items like fabricators, grenades, industrial cookers, industrial forges, soaps, vaults, industrial grills, and so on. Here are some of the most efficient ways to get oil in ARK: Lost Island.

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Different ways to get oil in ARK: Lost Island

1) Volcanic oil rocks

Volcanic oil rocks (Image via Sportskeeda)

Oil rocks located near the volcanic mountain (21.5, 66.3) are great spots to mine oil from, quite possibly the best way to get oil in ARK: Lost Island. However, multiple dangerous creatures can be found in this area, making the task more arduous. Players will be able to get large amounts of oil from rocks disguised as normal rocks near the red crystal rocks in this location. If mined with a pickaxe, chainsaw or any dino, these rocks can provide a considerable amount of oil, ranging from 300 to 800.

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2) Surface oil rocks

Surface oil rocks and oil veins are mostly found in desert areas of the map. Players can use oil pumps on these to get a steady supply of oil for the rest of the game, with the pump producing a unit of oil every 20 seconds. Interestingly, oil rocks are also located in various locations in snow biomes on the map. A few locations for clusters of oil nodes are 33.7, 54.7 in snow biomes; 77.9, 60.2 and 96.9, 40.9 in the desert.

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3) Underwater oil rocks

Underwater oil rocks (Image via Sportskeeda)

As expected, the most challenging aspect of mining oil underwater are the dangerous creatures that spawn there. However, on the ARK: Lost Island map, there are a few locations where the water is shallow enough for a player to easily mine there without danger. The first location at 32.2, 24.4 is a shallow part of the ocean near the blue obelisk, located at the extreme west of the map where a river joins the ocean. Players can anchor their rafts here, mine oil, and then transport them directly, as there are no sharks in the area fortunately.

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4) Dung beetles

Dung beetle (Image via ARK Fandom)

The safest way to get oil on Lost Island is to extract it from dung beetles. The best place to find dung beetles is in the southeast part of the map, the little tropical islands area at 56.8, 78.5. Interestingly, these islands have large numbers of dung beetles. Although the area has many ferocious creatures, one can quickly pick up dung beetles and later tame them at a safe location. When fed with feces, dung beetles turn them into oil and fertilizer. This is a rather safe source of oil and fertilizer throughout the game.

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5) Basilosaurus

Basilosaurus (Image via ARK Fandom)

This is one of the least used but rather effective methods of getting oil safely in ARK: Lost Island. A large number of Basilosaurus spawn in the bay area of 52.6, 40.5. After taming these creatures, as long as players keep them in water, they will passively spawn and store up to 20 units of oil in their inventory. However, killing the lower level creatures can be worth it as they provide a huge amount of oil after being slain.