USA: Marathon Oil Reports Strong First Quarter Results

Marathon Oil Corporation reported first quarter 2011 net income of $996 million, or $1.39 per diluted share.

Net income in the first quarter of 2010 was $457 million, or $0.64 per diluted share. For the first quarter of 2011, net income adjusted for special items was $1.18 billion, or $1.65 per diluted share, compared to net income adjusted for special items of $315 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, for the first quarter of 2010.

“Marathon delivered another quarter of strong operations across all segments, positioning the Company to capture higher commodity prices and margins and achieve solid financial results. These results further highlight the strength of our Upstream and Downstream businesses as we continue to progress toward an expected effective date of June 30 for the spin-off of Marathon Petroleum Corporation, creating two independent, highly focused energy companies,” said Clarence P. Cazalot Jr. (image), Marathon’s president and CEO.

“Thus far in 2011, we have continued to enhance our position in our Exploration and Production segment’s liquids-rich North American resource plays, acquiring additional acreage and spudding our first well targeting the Texas Eagle Ford Shale, as well as signing an agreement with a partner to assist in de-risking our position in the Colorado/Wyoming Niobrara Shale. Compared to the same quarter last year, our Refining, Marketing and Transportation segment benefitted from better overall market conditions coupled with increased refining capacity, primarily the result of a full quarter of operations at our expanded Garyville refinery and significantly less planned turnaround activity. The Company also made progress on the Detroit Heavy Oil Upgrading Project, which is designed to lower feedstock costs and capture value from crude oil differentials. On the retail side, we were pleased that Speedway was again named the nation’s highest ranked gasoline brand by an independent consumer survey, the third year in a row Speedway has received this honor,” Cazalot concluded.

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Source: Marathon Oil , May 4, 2011;