EL DORADO, Ark. -- During the oil company's fourth-quarter 2009 earnings call late last week, Murphy Oil president and CEO David Wood said that downstream expenditures included approximately $200 million to build 80 additional retail sites, up from the 26 sites built in 2009. "In 2010, we will be growing our chain of 1,050 retail locations by adding an additional 80 sites, which will be a combination of Murphy USA locations at Wal-Mart supercenters and our standalone Murphy Express offer," Wood said.

LA PALMA, Calif. -- BP Products North America has entered into a five-year contract with Core-Mark International for the distributor to provide all of the ampm proprietary products to the retailer's 1,200 convenience stores nationwide. In addition, Core-Mark has been designated as the approved supplier for traditional nonproprietary products, in a move designed to further advance ampm's ongoing progress in supply-chain efficiencies, marketing program effectiveness and consistency of offerings.

PHOENIX -- Convenience stores are poised to garner a growing segment of the foodservice business, recording steady increases in customer traffic as opposed to traditional quick-service restaurants (QSRs), according to one industry researcher. Presenting information before about 250 attendees at CSP's annual Convenience Retailing University conference, David Portalatin, director of industry analysis for The NPD Group, revealed statistics showing c-stores sustaining a 2% annual growth rate in foodservice customers since 2005.