Costco Rations Motor Oil After Global Shortage Sends Prices Soaring
Global Shortage Has Led to Motor Oil Rationing at Costco
A global lubricant shortage has pushed Costco to ration motor oil, with Kirkland Signature full-synthetic now priced at $57.99 for a 10-quart case, up from the mid-$30s. Members are limited to two units every seven days, and Mobil 1 purchases are also capped. The squeeze stems from tighter base-oil supply and the costly, complex process of formulating oils that meet modern engine and API standards.
Seeing motor oil rationed at Costco is unusual, and combined with the sharp price increase, it shows just how much pressure the lubricant market is currently facing.
- arjie
Huh, neat. There was this Twitter chap who said this was going to happen a few months ago. It was a fun interaction[0]:
> > > Just got word Mobil and Shell have informed Costco and Walmart they have no packaged product to send them and to expect bare shelves in the motor oil section in a few weeks
> > Lol as if youd be the first person anyone tells.
> I am Chevrons largest passenger vehicle lubricant purchaser lol
- 3eb7988a1663
Things are really about to hit the fan. The world has been surviving off of strategic petroleum reserves, but those are quickly hitting the bottom. The US last reported at 285M barrels[0]. There is a legal floor of ~250M, after which it is reserved for government national defense. Usage has been all over the place, but the drawdown has been somewhere in the region of 1M barrels per day. Public analyses have said that the cavern integrity becomes threatened once levels fall below 300M. Current government claims the "real" floor is at 70M, but I believe this is a transparent ploy to assuage markets.
The Saudi pipeline that was attacked had a capacity of 7M barrels per day. Gone for who knows how long. That 7MBPD that needs to come from somewhere.
Edit: Should add - the big tankers require ~month to move oil to most consumers. So, there is one month of breathing room before the new pipeline loss materializes.
[0] https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=W...
- medler
Not having to deal with oil changes is one of the many benefits of driving an EV
- ungreased0675
This is because of the Pearl refinery in Qatar going offline after being attacked by Iran. That was the source of a lot of synthetic oil base stock.
- WarOnPrivacy
My son bought 144 bottles of Castrol 10w40 on closeout for $110. This was 2 or 3 years ago. We drive old iron and have been steadily using them up.
What felt like a wall in our garage now feels like a security blanket.
- loeg
20 qts every 7 days is far more than any home consumer needs -- this must be to prevent shops from just buying out their entire stock.
- OptionOfT
I wonder if this will change how often people in the USA change their oil.
Comparing BMWs (which are worldwide cars), the oil change intervals in Europe are literally 2x what they are in the USA.
E.g. my previous 2019 M240i (B58 i6):
Europe: every 30,000km or 2 years, whatever comes first.
USA: every 15,000km (~9,000 miles) or 1 year, whatever comes first.
I get that fuel is dirtier in the USA. I get that engines work harder in the USA because of the heat, but a 2x reduction in lifetime?
And this is applicable to ALL the BMWs I've seen.
- hypfer
YouTube channel Regular Car Reviews also predicted this ca 3 months ago.
So now it's here. Or.. there? How's the situation in the EU?