Murco Petroleum Ltd is a UK-based oil company, with headquarters in St. Albans, Hertfordshire. It refines oil and also has a network of petrol stations. It was founded in 1960 and is a subsidiary of the USA-based Murphy Oil Corporation

Murphy Oil

Murphy Oil Corporation is an international oil and gas company, founded in 1944 as C.H. Murphy & Co by Charle H Murphy Sr., that conducts business through various operating subsidiaries. Murphy produces oil and/or natural gas in the United States, Canada, Malaysia, the United Kingdom and Republic...

. The company owns a chain of Costcutter

Costcutter

Costcutter is based in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Poland under which there are supermarkets and local and urban convenience stores. The banner also has its own brand of goods and products which are sold alongside Nisa Today own-brand products and branded products.As of December 2006,...

 convenience stores. It also owns and operates four product distribution terminals within the UK which receive oil by rail. The terminals are located in Bedworth

Bedworth

Bedworth is a market town in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, England. It lies northwest of London, east of Birmingham, and north northeast of the county town of Warwick. It is situated between Coventry, to the south, and Nuneaton, to the north.In the 2001 census the town...

 (Warwickshire

Warwickshire

Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...

), Theale

Theale, Berkshire

Theale is a large village and civil parish in the English county of Berkshire. The village has many of the attributes of a small town, with a high street lined with shops, pubs and restaurants.- Location :...

 (Berkshire

Berkshire

Berkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...

), Westerleigh

Westerleigh

Westerleigh is a village and parish in South Gloucestershire, England near the edge of the Cotswold hills. The village is located between Yate and Bristol, nearby villages include Nibley, Wapley, Iron Acton, Coalpit Heath and Codrington.-Background:...

 (South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire

South Gloucestershire is a unitary district in the ceremonial county of Gloucestershire, in South West England.-History:The district was created in 1996, when the county of Avon was abolished, by the merger of former area of the districts of Kingswood and Northavon...

) and Milford Haven

Milford Haven

Milford Haven is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, a natural harbour used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 on the north side of the Waterway, from which it takes its name...

 (Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire

Pembrokeshire is a county in the south west of Wales. It borders Carmarthenshire to the east and Ceredigion to the north east. The county town is Haverfordwest where Pembrokeshire County Council is headquartered....

), and the latter can receive and export petroleum products via a marine terminal and pipeline, as well as by rail.

In 1981 Murco purchased a 30% stake in Amoco

Amoco

Amoco Corporation, originally Standard Oil Company , was a global chemical and oil company, founded in 1889 around a refinery located in Whiting, Indiana, United States....

's Milford Haven refinery and in 2007 they purchased the remaining 70%.

In 2008, they purchased Petrol Express Limited for £52 million from its parent company GNE Group, and the 63 sites brought Murco's total number of petrol stations to 230.