Costco nearly doubles Kirkland motor oil price to $58

Costco has nearly doubled the price of its Kirkland Signature full-synthetic motor oil 5-quart two-pack to about $58, up from roughly $30 last year. The retailer is also limiting customers to two boxes a week, a move analysts say reflects pressure from climbing crude oil prices rather than a supply crunch for everyday drivers.

Costco is similarly capping purchases of Mobil 1 full-synthetic motor oil 1-quart six-packs at five per membership. That product sells for about $44.

Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, told Nexstar that most consumers have little to worry about.

“The normal car requires four to five quarts every 5,000 miles or so,” De Haan said, describing Costco’s limit as “what would be an extremely reasonable amount.”

Unless a buyer is responsible for “a fleet of thousands of cars,” De Haan said, the new limits are unlikely to bite.

The bigger story, according to De Haan, is crude oil. He said prices have reached their highest level in months and pointed to attacks in the Middle East, the Red Sea, and the East-West Crude Oil Pipeline in Saudi Arabia, as well as Ukrainian drone attacks against Russian oil refineries, as contributing factors. The Saudi oil pipeline will mostly be out of service for weeks following an attack last week, two regional officials told The Associated Press.

Benchmark Brent crude rose above $109 a barrel on Monday morning.

“As you would expect, everything derived from a barrel of oil is being impacted in different ways,” De Haan said.

The national average for a gallon of regular gasoline stood at $4.31 on Sept. 14, according to AAA, up from $3.17 a year earlier. Diesel set a record, reaching a national average of $6.23 per gallon, compared with just under $3.70 at this point last year.

With oil prices continuing to climb amid ongoing tension in the Middle East, oil companies stand to earn more from turning refined crude into diesel or gasoline than motor oil, De Haan said.

It remains unclear whether other motor oil retailers, including Walmart, Amazon and AutoZone, will raise prices or impose purchase limits. Walmart, Amazon and AutoZone did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.