Wal-Mart Testing Company Gas Stations

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is quietly testing company-owned gas stations at a handful of its U.S. stores, a move that could stall its partner Murphy Oil Corp.’s fast-growing gas station business.

Wal-Mart currently has more than 800 Murphy gas stations in the parking lots of its stores, and the oil company expects to open 100 more this year. The stations account for more than one-third of Murphy’s revenue, but analysts said they generate very little of the company’s profit.

The world’s biggest retailer opened its fifth company-owned gas station last month at a new supercenter in northwest Arkansas, just minutes from its Bentonville headquarters.
MSNBC