The coronavirus and an oil-price war have scrambled the conventions of fuel retailing. CSP looks at the economic dynamics of an industry in this presentation of its fourth annual Fuels 50. The Fuels 50 ranks fuel brands by market efficiency, a metric developed by Oil Price Information Service (OPIS).

Fuels 50

Click each chain name to see more data.
Source: Oil Price Information Service (OPIS)

Rank	Brand	Station Count	Market Efficiency	Market Share	Outlet Share	Price Differential
1	Buc-ee’s	37	7.770	0.250%	0.030%	-9.56 CPG
2	Wawa	655	5.090	2.890%	0.570%	-3.78 CPG
3	QuikTrip	811	4.540	3.200%	0.700%	-2.44 CPG
4	Sheetz	583	4.210	2.130%	0.510%	-0.24 CPG
5	RaceTrac	549	3.890	1.850%	0.480%	-3.70 CPG
6	QuickChek	80	3.640	0.250%	0.070%	-7.01 CPG
7	Maverik	333	2.900	0.840%	0.290%	-3.93 CPG
8	Royal Farms	182	2.780	0.440%	0.160%	-2.92 CPG
9	Kum & Go	393	2.710	0.930%	0.340%	1.93 CPG
10	Spinx	62	2.710	0.150%	0.050%	5.76 CPG
11	Pilot	502	2.560	1.110%	0.440%	-4.02 CPG
12	GetGo	236	2.540	0.520%	0.200%	-1.61 CPG
13	Love's	433	2.530	0.950%	0.380%	-3.06 CPG
14	Flying J	147	2.480	0.320%	0.130%	-4.97 CPG
15	Rutter's	70	2.320	0.140%	0.060%	0.78 CPG
16	Toot'n Totum	24	2.300	0.050%	0.020%	-0.52 CPG
17	Road Ranger	38	2.220	0.070%	0.030%	-0.81 CPG
18	Fastrac	54	2.040	0.100%	0.050%	-0.06 CPG
19	Gate	75	2.010	0.130%	0.070%	-0.62 CPG
20	Weigel's	67	2.010	0.120%	0.060%	0.19 CPG
21	Speedway	3450	1.950	5.850%	2.990%	-3.35 CPG
22	Hele	38	1.930	0.060%	0.030%	-4.30 CPG
23	Parker's	62	1.830	0.100%	0.050%	-4.59 CPG
24	High's Dairy Stores	44	1.810	0.070%	0.040%	-3.71 CPG
25	Irving	335	1.730	0.500%	0.290%	-1.15 CPG
26	Family Express	74	1.710	0.110%	0.060%	0.00 CPG
27	RaceWay	245	1.670	0.350%	0.210%	-5.89 CPG
28	BFS Foods	22	1.630	0.030%	0.020%	3.63 CPG
29	Kwik Trip	566	1.620	0.800%	0.490%	0.58 CPG
30	Circle K	1843	1.580	2.520%	1.600%	-4.10 CPG
31	Pride	32	1.560	0.040%	0.030%	-1.64 CPG
32	Murphy Express	308	1.560	0.420%	0.270%	-6.83 CPG
33	Flash Foods	136	1.540	0.180%	0.120%	-5.36 CPG
34	Byrne Dairy	52	1.500	0.070%	0.050%	0.94 CPG
35	Kwik Star	81	1.480	0.100%	0.070%	-0.62 CPG
36	Xtramart	24	1.480	0.030%	0.020%	-2.68 CPG
37	Jiffy Trip	25	1.460	0.030%	0.020%	6.29 CPG
38	Rhodes	23	1.460	0.030%	0.020%	1.99 CPG
39	Delta Sonic	28	1.420	0.030%	0.020%	-7.70 CPG
40	Thorntons	191	1.400	0.170%	0.120%	-5.19 CPG
41	MAPCO Express	246	1.370	0.290%	0.210%	-4.49 CPG
42	Meijer	216	1.350	0.250%	0.190%	-1.70 CPG
43	Turkey Hill	239	1.350	0.280%	0.210%	-1.92 CPG
44	CEFCO	88	1.350	0.100%	0.080%	-3.03 CPG
45	Holiday	519	1.320	0.590%	0.450%	-0.33 CPG
46	Go Mart	115	1.310	0.130%	0.100%	-1.46 CPG
47	Huck's	120	1.260	0.130%	0.100%	-1.46 CPG
48	Go Gas	21	1.250	0.020%	0.020%	-4.36 CPG
49	Handy Mart	20	1.250	0.020%	0.020%	-0.67 CPG
50	Wesco	53	1.220	0.060%	0.050%	-1.18 CPG

Methodology

The Fuels 50 ranks fuel brands with 15 or more stores by market efficiency, which is defined as market share divided by outlet share. OPIS based volumes on full-year 2019 national fleet-card transaction data for all gasoline grades, which it considers as an appropriate proxy for a brand’s total fuel volumes. A higher market efficiency indicates stores with higher volumes, with an average market efficiency of 1. Station counts are based on a brand’s weekly average for the year. Price differential, measured in cents per gallon (CPG), is how a brand’s typical store on a typical day in 2019 was priced relative to its direct competition.