The United Kingdom is home to 8,380 operational petrol stations and those under development. Numbers have fallen by over 35 percent since 2000. 2013 is the only year recorded here which shows a year-on-year increase. The UK is among the leading ten European countries by number of petrol stations, while Italy ranks first with over 20,000 service stations.
Ownership by brand
British multinational oil and gas firm BP operates the greatest number of forecourts. BP, ESSO, and Shell are the only companies to operate more than 1,000 sites. Of the so-called hypermarket-owned petrol stations, Tesco offers the most stations, at 509 as of November 2020. Despite owning fewer petrol stations, hypermarket retailers sold a greater volume of fuel, accounting for approximately 45 percent of fuel sold in the UK as of 2019.
Petrol prices
Between 2016 and 2019, prices for premium unleaded petrol increased by one fifth. In 2019, prices ranged from a low of 118.9 pence per liter in February, to a high of 128.5 pence per liter in August. Fuel prices are largely impacted by the price of crude oil and will likely see a decline in 2020 following the oil supply glut.
Number of petrol station sites in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2000 to 2020*
* Open sites includes all currently operating petrol stations and those sites that are under development at time of publishing. NET figures (closures, less new sites and less re-opened closed/obsolete sites).
The source notes: 'These include ownership changes eg. in the 2010 figures and in prior years, there were about 30 Co-op sites that were own branded fuel Co-op Somerfield and hence these were all classified by us as "hypermarkets". Since then all these sites have become main oil company branded hence they are now classified as dealer eg. And in 2013 Rontec "company" sites under the Total brand change to Esso "dealers".'
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Petrol Retailers Association. (January 1, 2021). Number of petrol station sites in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2000 to 2020* [Graph]. In Statista. Retrieved January 17, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/312331/number-of-petrol-stations-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/
Petrol Retailers Association. "Number of petrol station sites in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2000 to 2020*." Chart. January 1, 2021. Statista. Accessed January 17, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/312331/number-of-petrol-stations-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/
Petrol Retailers Association. (2021). Number of petrol station sites in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2000 to 2020*. Statista. Statista Inc.. Accessed: January 17, 2022. https://www.statista.com/statistics/312331/number-of-petrol-stations-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/
Petrol Retailers Association. "Number of Petrol Station Sites in The United Kingdom (Uk) from 2000 to 2020*." Statista, Statista Inc., 1 Jan 2021, https://www.statista.com/statistics/312331/number-of-petrol-stations-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/
Petrol Retailers Association, Number of petrol station sites in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2000 to 2020* Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/312331/number-of-petrol-stations-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/ (last visited January 17, 2022)
