Where to Find Oil in ARC Raiders

To find Oil in ARC Raiders, as well as Explosive Materials for your Wolfpacks and Trailblazers, you need to understand that most of your stockpile won’t come from finding pure Explosive Compound as its more of a rare drop. Instead, you need to farm Oil and items that scrap into Oil and use your hideout’s Refiner to build the final product. While there are spots where you can find Oil on every map, Stella Montis currently has the fastest route for high-volume farming.

1. Stella Montis: Loot Loading Bay & Sandbox for Oil in ARC Raiders

This is the premier route for gathering enough resources to craft Wolfpacks and Trailblazers. A focused run here can net you around 45–50 Oil in about 10 minutes if you prioritize scrapping mechanical components immediately.

• The Scrap Meta: Don’t just look for Oil cans. Loot every Polluted Air Filter (scraps into 2 Oil) and Water Pump you see.

• Don’t haul the Motors: At the bottom of the Loading Bay zipline, there is a very high spawn rate for Motors. Scrap the Motor inside the raid to get 3 Oil. If you wait until you’re back in Speranza, you only get 2 Oil.

• Breach Strategy: In the Robotic Sandbox and Loading Bay, always breach industrial containers. Even if another Raider has already breached them, check them anyway. Most players only look for blueprints and leave the Coolant and Water Pumps behind.

Note on Coolant: Scrapping a stack of 3 Coolant outside of the raid gives you about 19 Chemicals. If you are doing a “Naked Run” and need to save weight, scrap them inside for Oil; otherwise, save them for the chemicals to help synthesize fuel later.

2. Dam Battlegrounds: Primary Facility Garage & Water Treatment

The Dam Battlegrounds map is your secondary choice, specifically for hitting high-tier industrial zones. The density of industrial containers here allows for a very efficient loop through the facility’s lower levels.

• Primary Facility Garage: Head to the industrial garage located directly underneath the Primary Facility. This is a massive hotspot for mechanical components and red lockers.

• Maintenance Tunnels: Follow the tunnels leading from the Primary Facility garage toward the Water Treatment building. These tunnels are lined with industrial tool-carts and green breachable wall cabinets that often hold refined materials.

• Water Treatment Building: Once you reach Water Treatment, don’t just look in the boxes. Scavenge the main floor for loose loot sitting on workbenches and check the cluster of industrial containers at the back of the building.

3. Buried City: Car Park & Highway Buses

If the other maps are too contested, Buried City offers a more spread-out farming loop focused on vehicles.

• Multi-Level Car Park: Perform a “top-down” sweep from the “roof”. Breach every hood and trunk. The high density of vehicles here as well as the rusty breachable metal boxes on the very bottom level (behind the breach door) makes it a safe bet for Oil.

• Highway Buses: Along the Northern Highway, focus on the engine access panels (usually on the side or rear) of the abandoned buses. These are high-probability spawns for Oil.

Extra Tips for Farming Oil in ARC Raiders

1. Fossilized Lightning: Another possible way to get Explosive Compound is to skip the scrap-and-refine grind entirely by chasing an Electromagnetic Storm. Look for Fossilized Lightning on the ground after lightning strikes. One piece of Fossilized Lightning recycles into 3x pure Explosive Compound, which effectively replaces 6x Oil and 6x Crude Explosives. If you see that blue glow on the sand, secure it in your Safe Pocket immediately.

2. The Celeste Tax: Don’t forget Celeste in Speranza. She offers up to 10 units of Oil every 24 hours for Assorted Seeds. If you do a quick seed run in the Stella Montis Seed Vault, you can essentially buy your way out of the Oil grind for a bit.

More ARC Raiders Resources

Ready to put these materials to use? Check out our guide on How to Get Shredder Gyros in ARC Raiders or go on a Blueprint Hunt with our How to Find Every Blueprint in Arc Raiders guide. You can also join our Discord community to chat about strategies and other games with passionate Raiders!