Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC) Business Profile

What it does

Marathon Petroleum Corporation turns crude oil and other feedstocks into fuels and other petroleum products. It sells gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, asphalt and other products to wholesale customers, independent retailers, industrial buyers and international customers. It also supplies fuel to independently operated outlets, many of which carry the Marathon or ARCO brands.

The company has three businesses: Refining & Marketing, Midstream and Renewable Diesel. Its refineries operate in the U.S. Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent and West Coast regions. Its midstream business moves and stores crude oil and refined products, and gathers and processes natural gas. That business primarily reflects MPLX, a publicly traded partnership in which Marathon owned the general partner and approximately 64 percent of the outstanding common units as of December 31, 2025.

Marathon also makes renewable diesel from feedstocks such as vegetable oils, fats and greases. It sells the fuel through wholesale, spot-market and dealer channels and uses credits generated by production to help meet fuel regulations.

Marathon was incorporated in 2009 and is headquartered in Findlay. Maryann T. Mannen is its chairman, president and chief executive officer. As of December 31, 2025, the company employed approximately 18,500 people, including employees who provide services to MPLX.

How it makes money

Refining & Marketing earns money by processing crude oil and other materials into products and selling them, as well as by buying refined products and ethanol for resale. Its refining margin is the difference between product selling prices and the cost of crude, other inputs and purchased products, including the cost of transporting inputs to refineries. Throughput, operating expenses and distribution costs also affect the segment’s results.

Prices for crude and finished fuels do not always move together. The mix of crude purchased, refinery yields, fuel-credit costs and prices for crude grades relative to benchmarks can change the margin Marathon realizes. The company’s refining margin was $16.87 per barrel for 2025 compared with $16.01 per barrel for 2024.

Midstream earns fees for services including transportation, storage and distribution. Its pipeline profitability depends primarily on tariff rates and volumes, while terminal profitability depends primarily on throughput. MPLX has long-term, fee-based agreements with Marathon’s refining business, including minimum volume and capacity commitments. Midstream also gathers and processes natural gas and handles natural gas liquids; commodity prices and producer activity affect those operations.

Renewable Diesel processes feedstocks into fuel and markets it. Its results depend on feedstock and fuel prices, throughput, operating and distribution costs, and regulatory credits. Marathon’s renewable diesel facilities generate credits that help meet its obligations as a petroleum fuel producer.

Segment adjusted EBITDA was approximately $12.78 billion for 2025; consolidated adjusted EBITDA was $11.7 billion for the third quarter of 2026. Marathon received $2.56 billion of limited partner distributions from MPLX during 2025.

Customers and how it sells

Marathon sells refined products to independent retailers, wholesale customers, branded jobbers and direct dealers. It also sells on the spot market and exports products to international customers. Its product customers include commercial and industrial users; asphalt customers include paving contractors, resellers, government entities and roofing manufacturers.

As of December 31, 2025, there were 7,882 brand jobber outlets in 40 states, the District of Columbia and Mexico, where independent entrepreneurs primarily operated Marathon-branded outlets. The company also had long-term supply contracts for 1,162 direct dealer locations, primarily in Southern California and largely under the ARCO brand. These outlets are channels for Marathon’s fuel rather than all being company-operated stores.

The refining system spans the Gulf Coast, Mid-Continent and West Coast. Marathon exports gasoline, distillate, asphalt and natural gas liquids, primarily from its Garyville, Galveston Bay, Anacortes and Los Angeles refineries. Its midstream network connects natural gas and natural gas liquids producers with domestic and international markets.

Marathon and MPLX have agreed to sell the St. Paul Park and Mandan refineries and associated midstream assets to CVR Energy. Marathon expects the transaction to close by the end of the fourth quarter of 2026.

Suppliers and costs

Marathon buys crude oil from domestic and foreign suppliers through negotiated term contracts and spot-market purchases or exchanges. Term contracts generally have market-related pricing provisions. Its refineries can process a variety of light and heavy crude oils. The company sources renewable feedstocks including corn oil, soybean oil, fats and greases for renewable diesel.

A soybean-processing joint venture with Archer-Daniels-Midland Company supplies its resulting soybean oil exclusively to Marathon. Marathon also owns feedstock aggregation and pretreatment facilities that supply its renewable diesel operations.

Refining costs include crude and other inputs, energy, maintenance, distribution and compliance. For the year ended December 31, 2025, refining operating costs, excluding depreciation and amortization, were $6.10 billion. Distribution costs, excluding depreciation and amortization, were $6.19 billion for 2025, including fees paid to MPLX of $4.03 billion. Marathon’s expenses associated with purchased renewable fuel credits were $1.33 billion in 2025.

Some MPLX agreements require minimum volumes or payment for available capacity, so distribution commitments can affect refining results when throughput falls or refineries are idled.

Competitive position

Marathon competes for crude oil and other feedstocks as well as for customers buying refined products. Its refining and marketing business competes across wholesale, export, spot, branded and retail distribution markets. Rivals include independent marketers, integrated oil companies and high-volume retailers. Producers and marketers of alternative energy and fuels also compete for customers.

In midstream, competition concerns access to supplies and customers for gathering, transportation, processing, storage and fractionation. Location, connections to markets, fees, operating efficiency and reliability are among the factors on which providers compete. Renewable diesel producers also compete for feedstocks and sales, primarily on the West Coast.

No competing company is named in the available business descriptions. CVR Energy is the buyer in Marathon’s announced asset sale, not identified as a competitor in that transaction.

Our reading: Marathon’s linked refineries, pipelines, terminals and barges provide a meaningful operating advantage because they allow intermediate products to move between facilities and support the use of capacity during partial shutdowns. Our reading: Its geographic reach and ability to process different crude grades add flexibility, but do not remove exposure to competitive pricing for crude and fuel. Our reading: MPLX’s infrastructure and long-term agreements support recurring business, although competing midstream operators can contest supplies and customers on price, location and service.

Growth opportunities

Marathon is investing in refinery projects intended to change product yields, lower costs and increase flexibility. The company expects its Gulf Coast investments to enter service by year-end 2027. At Galveston Bay, it is constructing a 90 thousand-barrel-per-day distillate treater to convert higher-sulfur diesel into ultra-low-sulfur diesel. At Garyville, it plans feedstock optimization to increase crude throughput by 30 thousand-barrels-per-day and projects to increase flexibility to produce export gasoline.

The company says investments at Garyville and Robinson came online in 2026 and supported its ability to increase distillate yields. Marathon intends to reinvest proceeds from its announced Mid-Continent asset sale primarily in Gulf Coast opportunities that meet its return thresholds and strategic priorities.

MPLX is expanding its natural gas and natural gas liquids network. Harmon Creek III began operations, and MPLX and its joint venture partners made a final investment decision on the Solitude Pipeline System. When completed, the pipeline is intended to provide an additional 4.5 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas transportation capacity out of the Permian Basin. MPLX is also expanding sour gas treating capacity at its Titan Complex.

Renewable diesel is another part of the company’s investment portfolio. Marathon operates the Dickinson facility and participates in the Martinez renewable diesel joint venture, which reached full capacity in late 2024.

Structural risks

• Refining margins: Financial results are affected by volatile margins, which depend on factors beyond Marathon’s control, including feedstock and product supply and demand, refinery capacity, energy costs, tariffs and global political and economic conditions.
• Regulation and compliance: Marathon expects substantial capital expenditures and operating costs to meet evolving environmental and other laws. Renewable fuel obligations also require it to purchase credits, whose costs affect refining margins.
• Debt and financing: Significant debt obligations expose the company to deterioration in its credit profile or credit markets. Debt payments and covenants can reduce funds available for investment, dividends and other purposes or limit borrowing flexibility.
• Operations and weather: Facilities and supply chains face risks from floods, hurricanes, wildfires, winter storms, equipment malfunctions, explosions, fires and spills. Planned maintenance also requires temporary shutdowns of refinery units.
• Project execution: Projects can face permit delays, higher construction or labor costs, transportation disruptions, labor shortages, adverse weather and supplier or contractor nonperformance.
• Fixed commitments: Some MPLX agreements include minimum volume or capacity commitments. These costs can weigh on refining results when throughput or sales are lower or refineries are idled.

Bottom line

Our reading

Our reading: Marathon combines a cyclical fuel-refining business with logistics and natural gas infrastructure that serves both its own operations and other markets. [item1; item7] Its connected assets and MPLX agreements support recurring activity, but refining margins, regulatory costs and fixed commitments remain important exposures. [item1; item1a; item7] The planned refinery sale and Gulf Coast and midstream projects will change where it deploys capital, while leaving project execution and market conditions consequential. [call_prepared; item1a]