Number of petrol stations in the United Kingdom by brand 2020

As of November 2020, the British multinational oil and gas firm BP owned 1,229 petrol stations in the United Kingdom. The only other brands across the nation with more than 1,000 sites were Esso and Shell. Although BP owned the largest number of sites, 8 were closed between 2019 and 2020. In 2020, Esso owned a total of 1,211 petrol stations.

Majority of fuel sold at supermarkets

Although large oil and gas companies owned more petrol stations than any other brands, it was supermarkets that sold the largest volumes of fuel. In November 2019, Sainsbury’s had sold approximately 11,768 kiloliters, with Tesco close behind. In comparison, BP sold 4,317 kiloliters. It is easy to see why, when fuel prices from supermarkets are consistently cheaper than the UK average.

European comparisons

At the end of 2018, the number of petrol stations in the UK amounted to 8,442. This was significantly less than the number of petrol stations in Italy where there were more than 20,000 sites across the country.