BREAKING: Costco is now rationing motor oil for the first time in history, limiting members to one transaction and a maximum of 2 units every 7 days on its Kirkland house-brand full-synthetic, which now sells at $58 for 10 quarts after going for as low as $30 before the war, per the retailer's own listing.
Motor oil comes out of the same barrel as gasoline and diesel, and with fuel refining margins at records, refiners are finishing crude into gasoline and diesel rather than lubricant base stocks, while the Gulf base oil supply that moved through Hormuz is disrupted. Two automakers have already warned of dwindling motor oil stock.