Marathon Petroleum spins off from Marathon Oil

Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum Corp. became northwest Ohio’s largest public company after its spinoff from Marathon Oil Company on June 30. The company had revenues of US$62.5 billion in 2010.  Marathon Petroleum, which will focus on petroleum refining, plans to invest about US$20 million in new machinery, equipment and improvements to the infrastructure. The new company faces poor projections for long-term fuel demand, in addition to rising refining costs and stricter environmental regulations. Despite these, Marathon’s Midwest advantage has allowed its downstream business to reach US$521 million first-quarter-profit. The company has six refineries totalling 1.1 million barrels per day of capacity, which represents 7% of total U.S. Capacity. (June 8, 2011)