Oil Shale is one of the many resources found in 7 Days to Die, and you can use it to produce pure Oil and a Gas Can at a Chemistry Station. It can also increase the Science skill if an Oil Shale Boulder is cooked on a campfire.
If you combine Oil Shale with Crushed Sand and Small Stone, you can also make Asphalt, which has 10 percent more explosive resistance than Cobblestone. Oil Shale can be elusive unless you know where to look, so here are a few methods for farming the material in 7 Days to Die.
Where to find Oil Shale in 7 Days to Die
You’ll need to travel to the Desert Biome to find Oil Shale. You can search Gas Stations, Chemistry Stations, Mining Deposits, COC Tanks, and even the Desert.
For Gas Stations, be sure to check nearby fuel pumps, barrels, and jerry cans for traces of Oil Shale. There aren’t too many Gas Stations, but it’s always worth scouting them out.
You can also find Chemistry Stations in the Desert Biome. You can check the tables and barrels for Oil Shale, but Chemistry Stations are often crawling with enemies, so it’s less viable than others unless you have some real firepower behind you.
It could be worthwhile to build a base near a Mining Deposit to farm Oil Shale for an extended period. Mining Deposits are one of the more surefire methods for obtaining Oil Shale, but be sure to bring a pickaxe along to mine it. They’re also less dangerous than Chemistry Stations, so there’s that.
You can find Oil Shale in the Desert about 20 blocks beneath the surface. If you dig down, you’re bound to stumble across some. Bear in mind that standing in the sun for too long drains your character’s hydration level, which can lead to further complications. It’s one of the easiest ways to find Oil Shale, but it also comes with its own challenges.
Finally, you can loot COC Tanks for Oil Shale, but there’s often less of a chance to find Oil Shale this way than the high-risk Chemistry Stations or high-reward Mining Deposits.
For PC players, Oil Shale can be found right on the surface. It kind of looks like a piece of flint or coal. It also might appear as a lilac crystal. However, Oil Shale won’t respawn, so once you destroy a node, it doesn’t reappear in the same spot.
How to use Oil Shale in 7 Days to Die
To craft Oil from Oil Shale in 7 Days to Die, you need an empty can and 24 units of Oil Shale. Once you have Oil, you can use it to craft other gases or fuels. It’s worth having a constant supply of Oil Shale since turning Oil into fuel is one of the more efficient ways of sustaining power in 7 Days to Die.
Having an Oil Refinery at your base would also be beneficial, as you can use this mechanism to convert Oil Shale into valuable fuels.
