Crude Oil at Historic Lows and 5W30 is High Priced

Status
Not open for further replies.
You haven't seen walmart's online price dropping by nickels and pennies daily. Now about $9 for 5 qt.
 
I know there's so much more to engine oil than just the base crude, but the price of engine oil still should have went down some. Get ready to get flamed for saying engine oil should have gone down. It happens every time someone posts about this.
 
There's more to a quart of oil than the price of crude oil. A finished modern engine oil has a bit of work and some additives that contribute more to the end cost to the customer.
 
Originally Posted By: eljefino
You haven't seen walmart's online price dropping by nickels and pennies daily. Now about $9 for 5 qt.
Going down all the time-now $8.01 for 5 qts of ST 5W30!
 
This was a recent bitog discussion, and some semi-experts weighed in, and I think the general consensus is that, heck-yeah, we should have seen some price slippage, because almost ALL the base oils, chemical components, raw materials, etc. that go into a motor oil come from crude.

See http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2...-low-oil-prices for an expert opinion on crude prices. They think it will be cheap for a long time, and look at that 2008 price spike!

aR54ZkH.jpg
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Branson304
Get ready to get flamed for saying engine oil should have gone down.


Yeah I can't figure that out. People get mad about the idea of motor oil dropping in price.
 
Maybe Walmart dropped Supertech prices, but the price of every other oil sure as h*ll hasn't gone down. Mobil 1 actually went up in price not that long ago.
 
Originally Posted By: Branson304
Maybe Walmart dropped Supertech prices, but the price of every other oil sure as h*ll hasn't gone down. Mobil 1 actually went up in price not that long ago.


Ours is down 10-15% at Walmart
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: lubricatosaurus
This was a recent bitog discussion, and some semi-experts weighed in, and I think the general consensus is that, heck-yeah, we should have seen some price slippage, because almost ALL the base oils, chemical components, raw materials, etc. that go into a motor oil come from crude.

See http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2...-low-oil-prices for an expert opinion on crude prices. They think it will be cheap for a long time, and look at that 2008 price spike!

aR54ZkH.jpg



You are looking at OPEC in action in 2008
 
Originally Posted By: Doog
You are looking at OPEC in action in 2008

Just OPEC? I heard there was collusion amongst a powerful group of commodities traders. I don't know the full complexity, or whether OPEC was involved.
Probably some good studies of it out there. Shenanigans. Panic in the markets.
 
Originally Posted By: lubricatosaurus
Originally Posted By: Doog
You are looking at OPEC in action in 2008

Just OPEC? I heard there was collusion amongst a powerful group of commodities traders. I don't know the full complexity, or whether OPEC was involved.
Probably some good studies of it out there. Shenanigans. Panic in the markets.


Nope. They get burned every time they try. OPEC is the cause of most of the oil price spikes. But now you have the Saudis almost at war with Iran so you'll see them dump overproduction in the market in an attempt to bankrupt the frackers and Iran at the same time. Destabilizing the ME with the Iraq war didn't help either.
 
Last edited:
BTW...what ever happened to all of the "peak oil" hype? You know with $8/gallon gas even Obama was talking about...now he wants a 33% tax to fee cash to his green liberal buddies
 
And the baggage fees haven't gone away either. Once prices and fees goes into effect it's hard to get rid of them, kind of like a drug, same thing with taxes.
 
Off topic, but shipped a complete Performance v8 engine in a crate from Ohio to California last week and the freight company (Estes) still includes a 19.8 % FUEL SURCHARGE...... why??
 
A lot more oil is used for fuel than for oil changes, I'm not surprised the price of motor oil hasn't really dropped.

Over a course of 7500 miles my car will use about 1 gallon of oil

7500 miles at 25 mpg is 300 gallons of gas. Fuel is 45% oil so 135 gallons of oil.
 
Back in December I (controversially) floated the idea that basic engine oils should cost about a quarter of what they did back in 2008. I now think this was incorrect. Looking at current base oil prices, I think the more accurate figure is that they should be A FIFTH of what they were!

Here are the numbers from Lubes&Greases...

http://www.lubesngreases.com/lubereport/16_5/base-oil-report/-9945-1.html

Since December, many Group II base oils have dropped below $US 600/MT. I haven't seen prices this low in donkey's years!

PS - do be wary of some of the 'semi-expert' views that have been expounded on BITOG. Some are clearly coming from people that work in the industry and who will say just about anything, however crass and misleading, to maintain the (favourable to them) status quo.
 
Last edited:
Wow, according to Joe90_guy's lube report above, GroupIII base oil is 90 cents/quart. Treat rates with non-base-oil is what, like 20%. So 72 cents/quart for motor oil in just the base oil.

I have no idea what a 20% treat would cost per quart. Guessing those special chemicals (VM, esters, PPD, AW, FM, etc.) would add $1 per quart, then thats $1.72 per quart wholesale price for a GroupIII full synthetic motor oil, fully formulated.

Packaging would be say 20 cents/quart in volume. Rounds to $2. Shipping and profit per quart puts it at around $3.50/quart to Walmart's door. Add retail profit of $1/quart, and Walmart should be selling full synthetic at $4.50/quart (SuperTech).

I'm not far off, as Walmart.com actually sells 1-quart bottles at $4.97 instead of my $4.50 guess, all-groupIII synth SuperTech oil from Warren.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top