Number of Petrol Stations in Austria Falling

At the end of 2010 there was a total of 2,659 public petrol stations in Austria, whereas one year earlier the figure stood at 2,716, according to the latest numbers published by the Trade Association of the Mineral Oil Industry. The last 10 years have seen the number of petrol stations fall by over 200.

The market shakeout in the petrol stations sector has to do with intense crowding-out competition as well as low margins. Petrol stations earn only around 0.045 to 0.05 euros per litre.

With regard to the publicly accessible petrol stations, the trade association differentiates between the 1,638 major-branded petrol stations managed by the members of the association (BP, Eni, JET/ConocoPhillips, MOL, OMV, SHELL), and the other 1,021 station, e.g. those run by Genol, Avia, Turmöl or IQ. At the end of the year, the 1,638 major-branded petrol stations can be divided among brands as follows: 434 OMV incl. Avanti and Stroh, 422 BP, 270 Shell, 338 Eni incl. former ESSO stations, 145 JET and 29 MOL.

Of the 1,638 major-branded petrol stations, over 1,500 also have a shop, over 700 offer their customers a bistro and some 1,100 have gantry car wash facilities or vehicle wash tunnels. 1,479 of these are run as self-service petrol stations. At the year's end, a total of 175 petrol stations also sold natural gas (CNG).