The biggest and most popular petrol station brands in South Africa

New data from analytics group Lightstone shows that Engen petrol stations are the most popular among South Africa’s busiest commuters: Joburg drivers.

While the data only reflects the popularity of petrol stations in Joburg, the metro is the most populous in the country, in a province with more than double the cars than any other region.

The latest tally from the Natis database shows that Gauteng accounts for over 3.3 million of the country’s 8 million registered passenger vehicles (41%), and 4.7 million of the country’s 12.2 million total (38.5%).

Many of these vehicles would be concentrated around the greater Joburg area, meaning Lightstone’s data reflects trends among a significant portion of the country’s drivers.

Lightstone’s analysis draws from data captured by more than 600 service stations in Johannesburg and over 5,000 nationally, based on the real-world travel behaviour of Joburg’s passenger vehicles.

Engen emerged as the most visited fuel station brand by Johannesburg drivers in March 2025.

“Among the brands competing for Joburg drivers’ attention, Engen stands clearly ahead,” Lightstone said.

Zooming in on location-level insights, several Engen service stations stand out for their consistently high visit volumes:

• Oxford Service Station
• M1 North and South
• My City Sandton Court
• Midway Mews Convenience Centre

Other high-traffic stations include BP’s Grayston Drive, Shell’s Glenhove and Cosmo City Convenience Centres, and Sasol Waterfall.

Other insights from the data show that petrol stations are still hotspots for convenience shopping, becoming the default stop after traditional retail outlets close for the night.

“This shift is clearly visible in the data, where the proportion of convenience-led visits spikes between 19h00 and 06h00,” Lightstone said.

If 1% of all service station stops occur at midnight, but 2% of convenience stops happen then, it gives a convenience score of 2, indicating that consumers are twice as likely to be stopping for non-fuel reasons at that time.

Petrol stations in South Africa are changing

Different petrol station brands are also seeing different usage patterns, Lightstone said.

For example, Astron service stations experience higher peak visits between 06h00 and 10h00, pointing to a commuter-focused routine that’s unique among its peers.

Astron has become a new flagship petrol station brand in South Africa, taking over the previous Caltex brand and network.

Following Astron Energy’s acquisition of Chevron’s Southern African assets in 2017, the group started a massive rebranding campaign in 2022.

Twenty regional teams across South Africa worked simultaneously to rebrand forecourts to Astron Energy, hitting the halfway mark in November 2024.

At the end of the rebranding exercise, there will be over 850 Astron Energy service stations in the country – easily the second largest network after Engen.

Engen currently leads with over 1,000 stations in the country, making its popularity among drivers a logical outcome.

Shell announced it would be exiting the service station business in the country back in 2024, and is still in the process of offloading the network to potential buyers.

Whichever group takes over the network will be sitting with almost 600 service stations—the third largest in the country.

Total Energies has the fourth largest network with 550 stations, followed by BP, with 500 stations.

Contrasting Shell’s exit from the game, the other fuel retailers have all committed to remaining and expanding their networks in the country, including Engen.

Many have committed to modernising and upscaling non-fuel related services to meet the needs of consumers looking for convenience beyond filling up.

According to Lightstone, the service station market in South Africa is shifting, and driver behaviour is changing along with it.

“Fuel retail has seen more change in the past few years than in the decade before it,” said Mohit Narotam, MD of Lightstone Retail.

“Covid shifted consumer routines, remote work redrew traffic patterns, and new players have entered the market.”

Narotam said the data tells a story of shifting loyalties and evolving behaviours—some driven by convenience, others by broader market dynamics.

“As market dynamics continue to evolve, so too does the opportunity for retailers to rethink location strategy, brand loyalty drivers, and the growing role of convenience in consumer decision-making,” he said.