Top 50 Indie Javid Iqbal has signed up five of his sites to the Essar brand.

The sites, which were previously with the Esso brand and are located in Staffordshire and Derbyshire, opened under their new livery on March 30.

The following day, a new Essar-branded station was commissioned in the West Midlands. The site, formerly branded Harvest Energy, is operated by group dealer Sailesh Parekh.

These openings bring the total number of Essar sites in the UK to 29. Three of the new sites are in Stoke-on-Trent: Mossfield Filling Station, Endon Service Station and Longton Service Station.

The other three sites, Rockbay Service Station, Hatton Service Station and Ablewell Service Station, are in Buxton, Derby and Walsall respectively.

Essar Oil UK chief commercial officer SB Prasad said: “We are delighted with the addition of these six stations to the Essar fold. The openings underline the acceptance of Essar’s offering and continued healthy growth of our brand in the UK retail market.”

Essar Oil UK, which owns and operates the Stanlow Refinery in Cheshire, entered the UK retail market with the opening of its first branded forecourt in November 2015. It was at a site in Coalville, Leicestershire, owned by Top 50 Indie HKS.