Fuel stations in Paraguay: which brand you find on each route

Paraguay has 2,878 fuel stations spread across 23 brands with networks of their own, according to the fuel station register of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. They sit in 235 different cities out of the 263 districts in the country, which makes fuel the most evenly covered retail sector in Paraguay.

That does not mean any brand is available anywhere. Four of them reach all 17 departments and the rest build their own territory: some barely exist outside their region, and in some regions the dominant brand is none of the big ones. This guide sorts out who is who and where each one is worth counting on.

The five largest

Copetrol is the largest in the country with 387 stations across 141 cities, operating as Corporación Paraguaya Distribuidora de Derivados de Petróleo S.A. Close behind is Shell Paraguay, with 363 across 110 cities: the network is run by Barcos & Rodados S.A., which rebranded its stations to Shell in 2021.

Petropar —Petróleos Paraguayos, the state-owned company— has 301 stations in 16 departments. Then come Petrobras Paraguay with 246 and Puma Energy Paraguay with 182.

The four that reach all 17 departments

Only four brands have at least one station in every department: Copetrol, Shell, Petrosur and Tega.

Tega is the most striking of the four. With 96 stations —a quarter of Copetrol's— it still reaches all 17 departments and 73 cities, and it is the most evenly spread network in the country: its busiest department is Caaguazú, not Central, and even that accounts for just 18% of the network. No other brand is so lightly concentrated.

The brands that rule their own region

Nine of the 23 have their strongest presence outside Central. If the trip leaves the metropolitan area, these are the ones you will see often:

• North — HN Petróleos concentrates 55% of its 51 stations in Concepción, and Enercon 31% of its 64. They are the two northern brands.
• South — Ecop and Petrón lean on Itapúa, with 68 and 53 stations respectively.
• Centre and San Pedro — Compasa, with 123 stations, and Fuelpar, with 52, are strongest in San Pedro. Gas Corona leans on Paraguarí and is, after Tega, the second most evenly spread network: its busiest department adds up to just 14%.
• Alto Paraná — 3 Fronteras is the most regional of them all: 25 stations across 6 departments, 44% of them in Alto Paraná. Yguazú Combustibles adds 50 across 12 departments.

At the other end are the ones that hardly leave the metropolitan area: Enex Paraguay has 54% of its 71 stations in Central and Asunción, and 3MG 67% of its 33.

Five more brands complete the map. They are mid-sized, present in eleven to fifteen departments, and strongest in Central without any inland region being clearly theirs: Petrochaco (144 stations), Petromax (110), San Isidro (109), Copeg (95) and Integral Trading (36).

The Chaco: 90 stations for more than half the country

Here the numbers stop being market trivia and become route planning. The three Chaco departments —Presidente Hayes, Boquerón and Alto Paraguay— make up more than half of Paraguay's land area, and between them they hold 90 chain stations in fifteen towns. These are they:

• Presidente Hayes (44 stations): Villa Hayes, Benjamín Aceval, José Falcón, Nanawa, Puerto Pinasco, General José María Bruguez, Teniente Esteban Martínez and Tte. 1ro. Manuel Irala Fernández.
• Boquerón (32): Filadelfia, Loma Plata and Mariscal José Félix Estigarribia. That is all. A single brand, Ecop, holds 11 of those 32.
• Alto Paraguay (14): Fuerte Olimpo, Puerto Casado, Carmelo Peralta and Bahía Negra — all four on the Paraguay river.

In practice: in the Chaco you do not choose a station, you take the one there is. Plan refuelling by town rather than by brand, and expect long stretches between one and the next. The same holds along the bioceanic corridor, which crosses Boquerón and Alto Paraguay.

Where there is most to choose from

The city with most stations is Asunción, with 188 from 14 different brands. Next come Ciudad del Este with 130, San Lorenzo with 111 and Luque with 96.

But the widest choice is not in the capital: it is in Caaguazú, where 62 stations are split between 20 of the country's 23 brands, six more than in Asunción. That is what a road junction looks like. San Lorenzo and Capiatá follow with 17 brands each.

Read next

• Where to charge an electric car in Paraguay, because the country’s 31 charging points sit inside these very stations and a few supermarkets.
• The Paraguay travel guide, to plan the itinerary before worrying about fuel.
• How to travel to Paraguay: visa and requirements, if you are driving in from a neighbouring country.
• The Jesuit missions route, which is driven through Itapúa and Misiones — Ecop and Petrón country.