Murphy USA vs Walmart Fuel & Convenience: Who Actually Runs the Pumps at Walmart?

The short answer: Walmart does not own Murphy USA, and Murphy USA does not run Walmart's own gas stations. They are two separate companies that happen to share a lot of asphalt. Murphy USA, Inc. is an independent convenience retailer headquartered in El Dorado, Arkansas, listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker MUSA. Walmart Fuel & Convenience is a division of Walmart U.S. that builds and operates its own forecourts and small stores, mostly in the parking lots of Supercenters and Neighborhood Markets.

The confusion is understandable. For twenty years Murphy was the only gas station you would find at a Walmart, and most of the roughly 1,100 Murphy stations that sit on Walmart property were built while Murphy was still part of Murphy Oil Corporation, the exploration company that started the whole arrangement in 1996. Walmart only began building its own pumps in earnest after the two companies parted ways on new construction in January 2016. Today the two networks coexist, and in the 1,545 Walmart sites we track, Murphy still runs 71% of the pumps.

2. Who runs the pumps at your Walmart

Because Murphy stopped building on Walmart lots after 2017 and Walmart only started in earnest afterward, the two operators have a strikingly different geography. Murphy's Walmart stations are concentrated in the South and lower Midwest, the markets Murphy Oil chose in the late 1990s and 2000s. Walmart's own stations fill in the states Murphy never entered: Utah, Idaho, Arizona, California, New Mexico, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Washington, New York, and a scattering of single sites from Maine to Nevada.

Texas is the only state where both operators are present in force, with more than a hundred Walmart-run forecourts and roughly 250 Murphy stations. Ohio, Iowa, and Michigan are almost entirely Murphy territory at Walmart. Every station page on this site labels which company runs the pumps, so if you want a definitive answer for a specific store, search for it and look for the “Fuel by Murphy USA” or “Walmart-operated pumps” line under the station name.

5. Who is cheaper? Walmart-run vs Murphy-run pumps, state by state

Comparing the two operators nationally is misleading because they serve different states. On September 5, 2026, the average regular price across all 1,093 Murphy stations at Walmart was $3.664, while the 452 Walmart-run stations averaged $3.766. That 10-cent gap is almost entirely geography: Walmart runs the pumps in California, Utah, Idaho, and Arizona, high-tax and high-cost markets where Murphy has no Walmart presence at all.

Put the two side by side inside the same state and the picture flips. In 18 of the 18 states where both operators have at least three stations, the Walmart-run average is lower. The gaps are modest in the big Southern markets, a few cents in Texas, Florida, and Georgia, and widest in Tennessee and Oklahoma, where Walmart's stations undercut the Murphy stations across the same parking lots by 9 to 14 cents on the day we sampled. Arkansas, Murphy's home state, is one of the few places where Murphy comes in cheaper.

The grade ladder is different too. Walmart prices its midgrade and premium closer to regular: on our snapshot the regular-to-premium spread was about 64 cents at Walmart-run stations against 85 cents at Murphy. If you drive a car that requires premium, that spread matters more than the headline regular price. Diesel was effectively a tie, $5.505 at Walmart versus $5.514 at Murphy.

Live averages from our station database as of 2026-09-10; station counts in parentheses. Only states with at least three stations of each operator are shown. Green means Walmart-run pumps are cheaper. The table refreshes with every site build, so it may differ from the September 5 figures in the text.

6. Murphy USA stations at Walmart: the cheapest in each state today

A sample of Murphy-run Walmart stations, one per state, ranked by today's regular price. Every one of these sits in a Walmart parking lot, takes the Walmart+ discount by 6-digit code, and is priced by Murphy USA, not Walmart. Click through for hours, all four grades, and the 30-day price history.

And the cheapest Walmart-run stations

The same cut for Walmart Fuel & Convenience stations, where the Walmart app and Walmart Pay apply.

8. Where the two networks are headed

Both companies are building, but in opposite directions. Walmart's fuel chief Dave DeSerio, a veteran of Wawa and MAPCO, has said the retailer plans to “stair-step” openings over the next five years rather than sprint, after doubling its pace from about 20 new stations in 2024 to 40 to 45 in 2025. Walmart's own description of the strategy is telling: the stations exist to extend the Supercenter's everyday-low-price promise into the parking lot and to give Walmart+ members one more reason to renew. All but one of its stations sit on Walmart property.

Murphy USA, meanwhile, is growing away from Walmart. Its 2026 guidance calls for 45 to 55 new-to-industry stores and up to 30 raze-and-rebuilds, with a long-term target of 50-plus new stores a year. New builds are 2,800-square-foot stores in high-traffic corridors or as infill in existing markets, a long way from the 208-square-foot kiosks that defined the Walmart era. Murphy still lists proximity to Walmart Supercenters as one site-selection criterion, but as a complement to existing stores in smaller markets, not as the core of the plan.

For drivers, the practical upshot is that the Walmart-lot gas station is slowly becoming a Walmart-run gas station in more of the country, while the Murphy stations already there are not going anywhere. Walmart's easements and site agreements keep Murphy locked into the lots it has, and Murphy's Walmart+ participation keeps the discount consistent across both. Which company runs the pumps at any given Walmart will remain a question you have to answer store by store, which is exactly what our station pages are for.