AUSTIN, Texas — As pressure at the pump continues, automotive companies are also preparing for supply crunches because of the conflict in the Middle East. While drivers have already seen gas prices increase, the auto industry is taking another hit with motor oil.
Don’s Automotive Repair manager Jimmy Preston said he’s never seen a bottleneck like this.
“We’re going to see possible rationing of oil and, and the higher prices that the extent that they’re going up,” said Preston.
Preston added that there’s no timeline of when prices could go back down. He says that the effects could go beyond just oil changes, potentially affecting all lubricants like power steering and transmission fluids.
The Independent Lubricant Manufacturers Association (ILMA) says that is because most lubricant formulas are 75% made up of a highly refined mineral base oil, also called a Group III base oil.
ILMA Communications Director Caitlin Jacobs explained that a sizeable chunk of Group III base oil was coming from refineries in the Middle East.
Kara Kockelman is a transportation engineering professor at the University of Texas at Austin. She explained that the disruption in supply could push up pricing across the board.
“When you have all of this inflation from this base energy price rising, it affects any economic sector, or just people getting to and from work, or buying their groceries, shipping products around the world,” Kockelman said.
The impact will eventually flow down to drivers, but until then, managers like Preston are doing what they can to keep prices down as long as possible.
“We’re going to buy as much as we can afford to buy in bulk, so that we don’t have to pass that increase right away,” said Preston.