A driver refuels a vehicle at a Chevron gas station on September 3, 2026 in Miami, Florida.
Zach Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
warehouse club retail store costco Limits have been placed on the amount of motor oil members can purchase and prices have increased, according to the Associated Press.
According to Costco’s website, shoppers attempting to purchase a two-pack of 5-quart bottles of Costco’s house brand Kirkland Signature full synthetic motor oil will receive a notice detailing “one transaction limit per member, maximum of two units every seven days.” First reported by auto magazines The Drive and The Auto Wire, the price has increased to $57.99, a significant jump from its usual range of nearly $30.
Sales of Mobil 1 motor oil on this site are also restricted on the Costco website, with a six-pack of one-quart bottles for $43.99, with a limit of five per membership.
Representatives for Costco did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
The restrictions imposed by the wholesale retailer, known for its bargain prices and bulk sales, reflect an increasingly heated market for crude oil-based products. brent crude oilCrude oil prices, the global oil benchmark, traded above $109 a barrel on Monday morning, the highest since May after rising 9% the previous week. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) Futures traded above $104 per barrel. Both benchmarks fell by Monday’s close, settling at $105.68 and $101.39 per barrel, respectively.
The rise in oil prices comes amid an escalation and escalation of ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. Last week, Saudi Arabia shut down a major East-West oil pipeline after part of it was damaged by a drone attack from Iraq.
Tight oil supplies have made it more profitable for refiners to make finished fuels like diesel and gasoline, leading refiners to prefer producing the fuel over base oil, the main ingredient in modern synthetic motor oil, according to Autowire and the Associated Press. This further affects the supply of motor oil, leading to higher prices.
The conflict has also caused gasoline and diesel prices to rise in the United States, with gasoline hitting a Labor Day record and U.S. diesel hitting an all-time high of more than $6 a gallon.
