Number of petrol stations in the United Kingdom by brand 2022

As of December 2022, the United States' multinational oil and gas firm Esso owned 1,236 petrol stations in the United Kingdom. Ranking second, the British multinational company BP owned 1,191 petrol stations. The only other brand across the nation with more than 1,000 sites was Shell. Although BP owned the second largest number of sites, 27 petrol stations were closed between 2021 and 2022. In 2021, Shell owned a total of 1,148 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 December 2022, Sainsbury’s had sold approximately 11,803 kiloliters, with Tesco close behind. In comparison, BP sold 4,389 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 2020, the number of petrol stations in the UK amounted to 8,385. This was significantly less than the number of petrol stations in Italy where there were 21,750 sites across the country.