Walmart is adding thousands of CITGO gas stations to its Walmart+ fuel rewards program, pushing the network past 17,000 locations and covering more than 30 percent of all gas stations in the country, a move that could save members up to 10 cents a gallon as fuel costs keep climbing.
The retail giant confirmed the CITGO partnership as an expansion of its existing Walmart+ gas savings benefit, which already included Exxon, Mobil, Murphy stations, and Sam's Club fuel centers. The addition of CITGO grows the program from roughly 13,000 participating stations to 17,000, with the new locations concentrated in the Southeast, Midwest, and Northeast, regions where CITGO has its strongest footprint.
For households watching every dollar at the pump, the math is straightforward. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the average American household spent $2,600 on gas and other fuels in 2024. With the current average price per gallon sitting at $4.32, a dime off every gallon adds up, especially for families filling multiple vehicles or commuting long distances in parts of the country where driving is the only option.
Walmart+ costs $98 per year. The membership bundles the fuel discount with free delivery on select orders and in-store discounts. The gas savings alone won't cover the annual fee for every driver, but for a household burning through a tank a week, the discount starts pulling its weight fast.
Chris Kiesling, CITGO's assistant vice president of light oil operations and marketing, framed the deal as a convenience play for drivers already on the road. In a statement reported by The Sun, Kiesling laid out how the two loyalty programs can stack:
"The Club CITGO network provides great choice and convenience when Walmart+ members are on the road. At participating CITGO locations, Walmart+ members can redeem their Walmart Gas Savings benefit and stack additional savings when they join the Club CITGO loyalty program."
That stacking detail matters. Members who sign up for Club CITGO's own free loyalty program can layer those rewards on top of the Walmart+ discount, meaning the effective per-gallon savings could exceed the 10-cent baseline, depending on CITGO's own promotional offers at any given time.
The expansion arrives against a backdrop of fuel costs that have climbed well beyond where they stood before recent geopolitical disruptions. Before conflict drove prices higher, the average gallon of gas ran $2.98. It now sits at $4.32, a jump of nearly 45 percent. That increase hits hardest in rural and suburban communities where public transit is scarce and every errand means burning fuel.
The $2,600 annual household fuel figure from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reflects 2024 spending. With prices elevated, that number has likely grown in the months since, though no updated official figure has been released.
For working families and retirees on fixed incomes, programs like Walmart+ gas savings represent one of the few levers available to claw back a fraction of what fuel inflation has taken. Ten cents a gallon is not transformative. But it is real money, and it requires nothing more than swiping a membership at a pump that millions of Americans already pass on their daily commute.
The 17,000-station figure means Walmart+ members can now find a participating pump at more than three out of every ten gas stations nationwide. That density matters. A rewards program is only as useful as its reach, and the CITGO addition fills geographic gaps that the Exxon-Mobil-Murphy network left open, particularly across the Southeast and parts of the Midwest where CITGO stations are common but Exxon or Mobil locations may be sparse.
Walmart has not announced a specific launch date for the CITGO rollout, and it remains unclear whether the 10-cent discount applies uniformly across all 17,000 locations or varies by station. Those details will matter to members trying to plan fill-ups around the savings.
Still, the direction is clear. Walmart is betting that fuel savings can do what free shipping alone cannot, keep members paying $98 a year and keep them inside the Walmart ecosystem for groceries, household goods, and everything else the company sells.
When gas costs what it costs, a company that hands back even a dime a gallon at 17,000 stations is doing more for American household budgets than most of the people in Washington who talk about affordability but never deliver it.