You’ve finally done it. You spent three hours taming that high-level Argentavis, your base is looking like a fortress, and you just placed your first Fabricator. But then you realize it’s just a giant, heavy piece of metal sitting in the corner of your hut. It’s useless. Why? Because you're staring at an empty inventory slot where the fuel should be. If you're asking how do you make gasoline in ark, you’ve officially hit the mid-game wall. Welcome to the industrial age of Asemic survival, where your life depends on fossil fuels and poop.
Getting gas isn't just a "nice to have" thing. It is the literal lifeblood of everything that makes the late game playable. Without it, your refrigerators lose power and your kibble spoils. Your turrets go dark, leaving you defenseless against that one jerk on the server with a Fire Wyvern. Even your Chemistry Bench—which is basically a cheat code for crafting—needs that liquid gold to function.
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Honestly, the process is simple once you know the rhythm, but the first time you try to figure out the ratios, it’s a headache. Let's break down exactly how to move from a primitive torch-bearer to a motorized powerhouse.
The Recipe Most People Overcomplicate
Stop overthinking it. You only need two ingredients to make gasoline in ARK: Survival Evolved (and Survival Ascended). It’s 6 Oil and 5 Hide.
That’s the magic number.
You throw those into a Refining Forge or an Industrial Forge, light the fire, and wait. Every 30 seconds, the Forge processes those materials into 5 units of Gasoline. If you’re using the Industrial Forge, it’s way faster because that beast processes 1 batch every second and can hold massive stacks.
Where the Heck is the Oil?
This is where most survivors get stuck. Hide is easy; you just go kill a Phiomia or a Dodo with a hatchet. But oil? Oil is annoying.
If you are on The Island map, you have two real choices. You can head to the Snow Biome in the northwest. Look for those giant, black, greasy-looking rocks along the shoreline and on the ice floes. Hit them with a metal pick. If you have an Ankylosaurus, use it. Ankylo’s are the undisputed kings of oil harvesting. They get way more per node than you ever will with a hand tool.
The second option is diving. Underwater oil nodes look like strange black tubes leaking dark clouds into the water. It’s dangerous down there. Megalodons, Cnidaria, and those nightmare-fuel Tusoteuthis are waiting for you. Unless you have a Megalodon of your own or a high-oxygen build, stick to the frozen shores.
On maps like Scorched Earth, you'll find Oil Veins. You can actually set up an Oil Pump on these, and it’ll just generate oil over time while you’re off doing other stuff. It's passive income for the apocalypse.
The Industrial Forge: Why You Need to Upgrade Fast
Look, the basic Refining Forge is fine for your first few gallons. But eventually, you're going to realize that waiting 30 seconds for 5 gasoline is a slow death. When you start running three refrigerators, an industrial grill, and twenty auto-turrets, the math just doesn't work.
The Industrial Forge is a game-changer. It’s expensive—you'll need 2,500 Metal Ingots, 250 Crystal, 600 Cementing Paste, 400 Oil, and 400 Polymer. It’s a grind. A big one. But once it's up, you can dump thousands of Oil and Hide into it and walk away. By the time you’ve finished sorting your loot crates, you’ll have enough gas to power a small city.
One weird quirk? The Industrial Forge itself requires gasoline to run. It’s a "you need money to make money" situation. Make sure you keep a few cans of gas from your small forge before you demolish it to make room for the big one.
Alternative Ways to Source Your Fuel
Believe it or not, you don't actually have to mine oil rocks. If you’re playing on a map like Extinction or Genesis, or if you just want to be a bit more "organic," there are other ways to handle the how do you make gasoline in ark problem.
The Dung Beetle Method
This is the "pro-gamer move" for passive resource management. Dung Beetles are found in caves (and the volcano on The Island). If you tame one and put feces in its inventory—yes, actual poop—and set it to "Enable Wandering," it converts that waste into Fertilizer and Oil.
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It’s not a huge amount of oil, but if you have a pen full of Beetles, it adds up. It’s basically free gas. Just remember to weigh them down with stones so they don't actually wander off and get eaten by a wandering Raptor while you’re sleeping.
Basilosaurus: The Living Oil Well
If you manage to tame a Basilosaurus (the big, friendly-looking whales), they actually produce oil in their inventory over time. They are also immune to jellyfish stings, which makes them the best mounts for exploring the deep sea anyway. You can just park a few of these near your water base and check them every few hours for a fresh stack of oil.
Hesperornis Eggs
This is a weird one that most people ignore. If you kill a golden Hesperornis egg (the duck-like birds), you can actually refine them into oil. It’s inefficient and honestly a bit of a hassle compared to just hitting a rock with an Ankylo, but it’s a fun fact to flex on your tribe mates.
Gas Consumption: Don't Let Your Base Go Dark
Once you have the gas, you need to know how long it lasts. ARK is a game of timers.
- The Generator: One unit of gasoline lasts for 60 minutes on standard official settings. This is great because a single stack of 100 gas keeps your lights on for 100 hours.
- The Fabricator: This consumes gas much faster, but you only turn it on when you're actually crafting.
- Motorboat: If you're living the pirate life, remember that the motorboat eats gas while you're moving. Don't get stranded in the middle of the ocean because you forgot to check the tank.
A common mistake is leaving the generator on while you're offline if you don't have anything that needs constant power. If you don't have a fridge or turrets, turn it off. Save your fuel.
Troubleshooting Common Crafting Issues
Sometimes, you put the 6 Oil and 5 Hide in the forge, light it, and... nothing happens.
First, check your quantities. If you have 5 Oil and 5 Hide, it won't work. It has to be 6.
Second, make sure you aren't trying to craft it in your player inventory or a Smithy. Gasoline is a refined product; it requires heat. It has to be in a Forge.
Third, if you're using an Industrial Forge, make sure you've actually turned the forge on. It sounds stupid, but we've all done it. You stand there for five minutes wondering why it’s not working, only to realize you didn't click "Turn On."
Strategic Action Plan for Fuel Independence
To stop worrying about fuel forever, follow this progression path:
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Phase 1: The Beach Scrub. Use a metal pick on the frozen coast. Get 100 oil. Craft 100 gas in a basic Refining Forge. Use this to power a Fabricator.
Phase 2: The Tamer. Get an Ankylosaurus and a Pteranodon (or an Argentavis). Fly the Anky to the oil rocks. You’ll get 1,000+ oil in minutes. This is where you start stockpiling.
Phase 3: The Industrialist. Build the Industrial Forge. This is your top priority. Once you have this, you will never "craft" gas again; you will simply "produce" it in mass quantities.
Phase 4: Passive Income. Tame three Dung Beetles and keep them in a small cage near your base. Feed them the "output" from your Phiomia. This ensures that even if you're too lazy to go on an oil run, your basic power needs are always met.
The transition from wood-fire to gasoline is the most significant leap in the game. It changes everything from how you preserve food to how you defend your home. Just keep your Anky happy, watch out for the Rexes in the snow, and you'll have more gasoline than you know what to do with.