The war with Iran is making oil changes pricier. And a deal won't solve it

A mechanic pours motor oil into a funnel inside a Chevron Corp. gas station in Albuquerque, N.M., in July 2016. The cost of group III base oil, used in motor oil blends, has risen 175% since the start of the war with Iran, according to a trade group. Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

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The war in Iran has pushed up the price of crude oil and derivatives like gasoline , diesel and jet fuel — all of which have been making headlines for months.

But less has been said about the rising price of motor oil, the lubricant that protects your car's engine from wear and tear. Your next oil change could be quite a bit more expensive.

And even if the framework deal is signed this week, that problem isn't going away any time soon.

Since the start of the war, the price of the base oil used to blend widely-used synthetic motor oil has "more than tripled to record levels," Amanda Hay, an analyst with the market insight firm Independent Commodity Intelligence Services, told NPR via email.

While the U.S. is a net exporter of gasoline, diesel and jet fuel — producing more than we use — the country is a net importer of base oil. The oil used in synthetic motor oil , in particular, is not produced in the U.S. in large quantities.

Synthetic motor oil used to be a premium product that was mostly used by high-end vehicles, but increasingly, ordinary vehicles call for the higher-performing lubricant. Despite the word "synthetic" in the name, it's still made from crude oil or natural gas, but through highly sophisticated engineering processes that result in a thinner, longer-lasting oil. Most refineries simply can't do that kind of manufacturing.