How To Get Oil (And What It’s Used For)

There are lots of resources that players will need to gather in large amounts to survive in 7 Days To Die. While resources such as iron, nitrate powder, and coal can be very easy to come by, other items can be quite challenging to pick up, especially during the early stages of the game.

Not to be confused with oil shale, oil is one of these rare resources. However, with a little bit of information, it can be farmed in abundance. This guide will go through all the ways to get oil in 7 Days To Die.

Crafting Oil

By far the easiest way to get oil in large quantities is by crafting it. To do so, you’ll need to find and read a total of 20 Vehicle Adventure Magazines. These magazines have a chance to be found randomly inside almost every loot container. They have a higher chance of spawning inside Pass-N-Gas containers and inside vehicles. To increase your chances of finding Vehicle Adventure Magazines, invest a skill point in Grease Monkey.

Oil shale can only be found in the desert biome. It’s pretty easy to spot thanks to its purple hue. If you open your map, oil shale will appear as light brown dots, helping you spot them with ease.

By default, it costs 24 oil shale to make 1 oil container. It takes 24 seconds to craft one oil container. While it doesn’t sound like a long time, it can take quite awhile if you need a lot of oil. It’s best to save up your oil shale and bulk craft oil at a workbench while you explore the world.

Looting Oil

Oil has a chance to be found inside most loot containers. However, some containers, such as Pass-N-Gas boxes, have a much higher chance of containing oil. Keep an eye out for Pass-N-Gas Stores. They are quite small, easy to clear out, and tend to have a few Pass-N-Gas loot containers inside.

The best way to loot oil, though, is by salvaging vehicles, which can be found all over the place. Using a Wrench, Ratchet, or Impact Driver on a vehicle will strip the vehicle down into its core components. You’ll typically get at least one container of oil with every vehicle you break down. It’s not guaranteed, but the chances are pretty high.

By salvaging vehicles, you’ll also get a heap of valuable items, such as Mechanical Parts, Electrical Parts, Car Batteries, Engines, and more. All these items have their uses. From crafting vehicles to making turrets, drones, and even top-tier doors, saving vehicles will net you plenty of useful materials. If you don’t need the materials, then they will sell for a decent amount of Dukes.

Buying And Selling Oil

During desperate times, you can purchase oil from traders, though this is quite price. Trader inventory is random, and is tied to your overall level and game stage. This means there’s no guarantee that a trader will stock oil.

However, as the game’s vehicle specialist, Trader Bob has a much higher chance of stocking oil than the other traders in the game. If you are playing on the Navezgane map, you can find trader Bob at 476 East, 1033 South. If you are on another map, then you’ll need to complete trader missions in order to find him. Either that, or just look for him in the desert biome.

While oil is quite costly to buy, it is also a very profitable item to sell. If you have plenty of oil shale lying around, you can make a decent amount of Dukes by crafting and selling oil to traders.

When you do buy from traders, you can save money by using various consumables, perks, and armor mods. For example, the Cigar can help reduce trader prices, making items much more affordable.

Receiving Oil As A Mission Reward

Most players will complete missions on a daily basis. Whether you decide to hunt for buried treasure, clear out POIs, or restore power to buildings, there are plenty of missions to keep you busy. While the rewards you receive will depend on factors such as game stage, mission difficulty, and perk selection, there’s always a chance of being awarded oil upon completing a mission. Typically, oil will be given in increments of 5 or 10.

Enemy Loot Bags

When killed, an enemy has a small chance of dropping a loot bag. There are three different types of loot bag: yellow, blue, and red. Yellow bags are the lowest quality loot bags, typically dropped by standard zombies. Blue bags are primarily dropped by tougher zombies such as lumberjacks. Red bags are the best, and are dropped by the toughest enemies in the game, like Dire Wolves and Demolition Zombies.

While the contents of a loot bag does depend on your game stage, there’s a decent chance of a loot bag containing a small amount of oil. The best way to farm these loot bags is on horde night. Hunker down in your base and take down every zombie that approaches. Loot bags will also contain a variety of rare materials, magazines, books, weaponry, and more. It’s not uncommon to find legendary parts inside a loot bag.

What Oil Is Used For

Oil is an important ingredient needed to craft a plethora of items. From weapon mods to ammo and turrets, oil has lots of uses. The full list of items that require oil to craft includes:

• Lantern
• Molotov Cocktail
• Old Lantern
• Muzzle Brake Mod
• Barrel Extender Mod
• Blade Trap
• Burning Shaft Mod
• Cooling Mesh Mod
• Crucible
• Dart Trap
• Drum Magazine Mod
• SMG Auto Turret
• Shotgun Auto Turret
• Silencer Mod
• Steroids
• Wheel

Not every item listed above is a must-have. However, things such as turrets, weapon mods, Molotov cocktails, wheels, and the crucible are all important items that most players will need to craft at some point during their playthrough. Aside from Molotov cocktails and wheels, most of the crucial things that require oil are late game items. So, it’s always worth stockpiling oil during the early stages to use later on.