Costco nearly doubles motor oil price, blames crude costs
Costco has nearly doubled the price of its Kirkland Signature full-synthetic motor oil and is limiting how much customers can buy, a move an analyst links to surging crude costs. The warehouse club’s 5-quart two-pack now costs around $58, up from roughly $30 a year ago, according to a Nexstar report.
The company is also restricting purchases of Mobil 1 full-synthetic motor oil in 1-quart six-packs, which sells for about $44, to five per membership.
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, told Nexstar the limits are unlikely to affect most drivers.
“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 customer is responsible for “a fleet of thousands of cars,” De Haan said, the new rules should not be a concern.
De Haan 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 on Russian oil refineries, as contributing factors. The Saudi pipeline will mostly be out of service for weeks following an attack last week, two regional officials told The Associated Press.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude went above $109 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 is $4.31, according to AAA. Diesel set a record on Monday, with a national average of $6.23 per AAA data. At this time last year, the national averages were $3.17 and just under $3.70 per gallon, respectively.
With oil prices continuing to rise, oil companies stand to profit more from turning refined crude oil into diesel or gasoline than motor oil, Nexstar reported.
It remained unclear whether other motor oil retailers like Walmart, Amazon and AutoZone would raise prices or set purchase limits. Walmart, Amazon and AutoZone did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press.
