Analysis: How the Covid-19 Pandemic Shook Up Gasoline Market Share

The Covid-19 pandemic significantly influenced U.S. gasoline market share, altering demand patterns and reshaping industry dynamics, an OPIS analysis shows.

Gasoline brands became increasingly competitive in a declining market. OPIS data indicate fuel demand fell 25.2% from 2019 to 2025. The push for market share has become a tight horse race.

The gap between the top 25 brands’ market shares narrowed to 28 basis points last year, down from 42 basis points in 2019. OPIS calculated the average spread between each of the 25 leading brands and their nearest competitor.

Large, independent fuel retail chains, warehouse clubs and grocers are displacing conventional gasoline brands in many areas with lower prices and much higher throughput per station.

In 2019, Shell at 10.65%, Exxon at 5.24%, Chevron at 4.71% and BP at 4.61% were the leading U.S. gasoline brands based on gasoline market share by visits. The Kroger brand at 3.71% ranked fifth, with numerous fuel centers at its supermarkets, while the rest of the top 10 were all traditional gasoline brands, according to OPIS MarketSharePro.

Moving ahead to 2025, Circle K ranked second as it did in 2024, further closing the gap with Shell. Shell’s market share fell sharply from 2019 by 244 basis points to 8.21% — the largest drop among U.S. brands. And Circle K had the largest gain during the time span, rising 286 basis points to 4.98%. In 2019, Circle K ranked 15th in U.S. gasoline market share with 2.12%, according to OPIS.

Alimentation Couche-Tard, Circle K’s parent company, has been rebranding pumps with its own Circle K brand and building bigger stores with high-volume fuel operations. The company is among the industry’s most aggressive acquirers of gasoline outlets. Before the pandemic, Circle K had a strong partnership with Shell, selling Shell fuel at many of its sites.

Circle K also added more share than conventional branded gas stations because of its ability to stock groceries. A National Association of Convenience Stores study found that convenience retailers saw higher sales of grocery staples during the pandemic.

More Stations, Lower Volume

Major branded suppliers added more stations since the pandemic, but the sites typically sell lower fuel volumes than the large, independent convenience retailers, grocers and warehouse clubs.

Fuel marketers observed that small retailers sought branded contracts to secure fuel during uncertain times. Major branded suppliers also provided financial support for expensive chip card technology upgrades required by the payment card industry. After April 17, 2021, liability for fraudulent charges at the pump shifted to retailers without chip-enabled payment terminals.

Though refiner brands expanded their retail networks from 70,270 outlets in 2019 to 71,187 in 2025, the extra stations did not lead to a rise in refiners’ market share. Their combined market share dropped 601 basis points from 45.86% to 39.85%.

OPIS tracks station throughput using an efficiency rating that’s calculated by dividing market share by outlet share, with 1.0 being the average rating. As a group, the refiner brands’ average efficiency rating dropped to 0.68 in 2025 from 0.74 in 2019.

Meanwhile, large independent fuel retailers, warehouse clubs and some supermarket chains gained market share.

According to OPIS MarketSharePro, Costco advanced from 11th place as a gasoline brand in 2019 to fifth place in 2025, with its market share rising by 111 basis points to 3.78%. Similarly, Sam’s Club improved its ranking from 19th to 11th, increasing by 101 basis points to reach 2.72%.

The increased demand for grocery stockpiling and sensitivity to fuel prices contributed to the growth in market share for club retailers. OPIS data show that the clubs took their already low pump prices even lower following the pandemic. In 2019, Costco’s retail gasoline price averaged about 25cts/gal below local prices and Sam’s averaged 15cts/gal below local prices. By 2025,
Costco was 33cts/gal and Sam’s was 24cts/gal below average local prices.

Of the grocers, the Texas-based H-E-B supermarket chain made the most strides following the pandemic. H-E-B bumped Conoco off the list of the top 25 gasoline brands in 2025, ranking 23rd at 1.28%. Its market share was up 38 basis points from 2019, per OPIS data.

The Kroger brand dropped from fifth to ninth place, with a 3.19% share of the U.S. gasoline market. But Kroger’s overall fuel network has been growing in recent years, with more than 1,700 fuel centers operating under more than a dozen different brands.

Large Independents Scored Big

Major independent fuel retailers scored some of the biggest post-pandemic wins. They’ve attracted more traffic, building bigger stores with quality food service and large fuel operations.

QuikTrip, based in Oklahoma, had the highest market share of the independents, moving from 14th place in 2019 to 8th in 2025. By 2025, its share of the gasoline market had grown to 3.21%, an increase of 98 basis points compared to 2019.

The company is headed for more growth. In February, QuikTrip announced it opened its 1,200th store, with more than 80 new stores scheduled to open in 2026.

From 2019 to 2025, Casey’s General Stores jumped from 17th place at 1.76% to 13th place at 2.63%, an increase of 87 basis points. Wawa moved from 18th place at 1.73% to 16th at 2.23%, an increase of 50 basis points, and Sheetz rose from 23rd place at 1.2% to 20th at 1.72%, an increase of 52 basis points.

Some Refiners Gained Share

Though refiners’ gasoline brands collectively lost market share since Covid, several gained share or were stable following the crisis.

Between 2019 and 2025, the Marathon brand’s market share rose by 40 basis points, Phillips 66 increased by 20 basis points, Sinclair by 15 basis points, Amoco by 31 basis points, Irving by 4 basis points and DK by 17 basis points. The 76 brand, owned by Phillips 66, was stable, only losing 1 basis point since 2019.

BP revived the iconic Amoco brand in late 2017. It ranked 41st in gasoline market share by visits in 2025 at 0.35%. At the Western Petroleum Marketers Association conference in February, the company had said Amoco just added its 1,000th station.

Delek US Holdings introduced the DK fuel brand in early 2019, following Delek’s 2017 acquisition of Alon Brands. The launch of the new brand likely cannibalized the Alon brand, which dropped from 43rd place at 0.38% in 2019 to 48th place at 0.28% in 2025, down 10 basis points.

Reporting by Donna Harris, dharris@opisnet.com; Editing by Michael Kelly, mkelly@opisnet.com