ARK 2 Oil, Collection, Processing and Uses Guide

the underwater oil veins in the deep ocean at like 30m plus depth are honestly where the real money is with a Dunkleosteus you get 30 to 50 oil per node which is kind of insane when you think about it and the Dunkleo gives you 80% weight reduction on oil so you can literally fill that thing up and keep going for ages, one 30 minute ocean run nets me 500 plus oil pretty much every time and I'm not even that efficient about it tbh you just follow the reef from herbivore island north and you'll find clusters of oil nodes all along the way. I mean it's dangerous down there with megalodons and stuff but that's just ARK for you. Pretty much.

so if you're not ready for the deep ocean yet the surface oil rocks in the snow biome are your best friend, they're those white rocks with black streaks and you can harvest them with an Ankylosaurus or a Dunkleosteus and the yield is lower at 10 to 20 per node ngl but you don't need scuba gear which is a huge plus when you're still building up your base and trying to survive. Good for early and mid game before you have your ocean setup ready and honestly even in late game I still grab these when I'm passing through the snow biome. Because why not. Free oil is free oil.

oil refines in a refining forge at a 1 to 1 ratio which is pretty straightforward, the industrial forge also does 1 to 1 but at 5x the speed and when you have stacks and stacks of oil to process that speed difference is literally everything, gasoline is made from 5 oil and 3 hide and this is what keeps your generators and fabricators running so don't sleep on it, polymer is 2 cementing paste plus 1 oil and you need polymer for electronics fabricator parts generator components motorboat parts and all that fancy stuff you get the idea. Honestly the industrial forge should be your first big crafting goal once you start serious oil farming because the time you save is kind of ridiculous. I mean it.

the Dunkleosteus is pretty much the undisputed oil farming king and it's not even close, I've tried literally everything else and nothing comes close to what the Dunkleo can do with its 80% weight reduction on oil and harvesting underwater oil nodes for 30 to 50 oil per node and plus the Dunkleo can actually fight back against megalodons and plesiosaurs which is kind of important when you're doing deep ocean runs trust me on that one. Honestly if you don't have a Dunkleo yet taming one should be your top priority before you start any serious oil operation. For surface oil rocks in the snow biome the Ankylosaurus is your go-to same as crystal farming, it gets decent yield from the black-streaked rocks up north. And here's a sneaky one a lot of people don't think about, the Dung Beetle, tame a couple load them up with feces set them to wander in a pen and they'll passively produce oil and fertilizer without you doing anything, it's nowhere near as fast as active farming but it's completely passive income and that adds up big time over a week of playing, basically free oil while you sleep or whatever. Sort of magical honestly.

when you're just starting out and don't have scuba gear or a Dunkleo your oil options are kinda limited but not zero thank god, surface oil rocks in the snow biome are your best bet early on with the coordinates around 20,30 and 25,35 having decent clusters of oil rocks. But you'll need fur armor to survive the cold so factor that into your prep and trust me forgetting fur armor is a mistake you only make once. Another early game trick is killing Trilobites along the beaches, they drop small amounts of oil along with pearls and chitin and it's slow but you can build up a stockpile while doing other beach activities. Once you hit mid game and get your first Dunkleo and scuba set the whole game changes, one 30 minute deep ocean run can net you 500 plus oil which is more than you'd get in hours of surface farming. Late game with a bred high-melee Dunkleo and a water pen near the deep ocean nodes you basically have infinite oil. IMO the transition from surface rocks to deep ocean farming is one of the biggest power spikes in ARK 2's resource game and honestly it feels so good the first time you come back with a full inventory of oil. Kinda euphoric ngl.

first build a small ocean platform or at least a storage box on a raft near your farming route because you don't want to swim all the way back to base every time your Dunkleo fills up it's such a time waster honestly. Park a raft at the reef edge dump oil into its storage and keep farming, you can easily double your haul per session this way and I've been doing this for so long I can't imagine farming without it. Second tip tame a high-oxygen Ichthyosaurus or Manta as a scout, send it down first to check for mosasaurs and alpha megalodons before you commit your Dunkleo to a deep dive, losing a high-level Dunkleo to a surprise alpha is the kind of thing that makes people rage quit and I've been there it hurts. Also the industrial forge isn't just faster for refining oil into gasoline it also processes more at once and if you're going to be doing lots of oil farming building an industrial forge should be high on your priority list. And honestly don't sleep on the Dung Beetle passive farm, two or three beetles in a pen with a Phiomia for poop production will quietly generate hundreds of oil over a week and you just log in and collect your free oil etc. I love it when the game works for me instead of the other way around.

the classic new player mistake with oil is trying to swim down to deep ocean nodes with just a pick and some Lazarus Chowder, you get maybe 5 oil per node by hand while the Dunkleo gets 30 to 50 and it's just not worth the time or the risk. Either commit to taming a Dunkleo first or stick to surface rocks until you can. Another one I see all the time is people refining all their oil into gasoline immediately and that's a bad idea because you need raw oil for crafting polymer and other recipes and you can't convert gasoline back. So keep at least a couple stacks of raw oil in reserve and only refine what you actually need for generators and fabricators, otherwise you'll be kicking yourself when you can't craft that polymer and trust me that feeling sucks. Also the snow biome surface rocks, people go up there without checking the temperature and freeze to death mid-harvest, bring fur armor bring a torch and bring some medical brews in case you get jumped by dire wolves. It's cold it's dangerous but the oil is there and it's way easier than deep ocean farming for beginners. Anyway. You get the hang of it eventually.