Operating the nation’s largest refining system, Marathon Petroleum Company (MPC) is a leading, integrated downstream and midstream energy company providing energy resources to the United States of America (USA) from its headquarters in Findlay, Ohio. From its branded locations across the country (including its retail outlets), to its role in its midstream company that owns and operates processing and fractional assets, to its crude oil and light product transportation and logistics infrastructure, MPC is a powerhouse in the downstream and midstream energy sector.
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MPC’s operations began almost 140 years ago, when several small oil companies across Ohio banded together to form The Ohio Company. From this company, Marathon Petroleum has grown with the development of new gas stations and the introduction of refining processes. By continuing to evolve and innovate, MPC is now proud of the role it plays in helping meet the world’s growing energy needs, while steadfastly adhering to the values of safety, environmental stewardship, integrity, inclusion, collaboration, and excellence that it places at the heart of every operation it undertakes.
The best place to start when examining MPC is its refining operations, which comprise a significant portion of its activities. MPC has 13 refineries spanning 12 states of the USA, which collectively deliver around 3 million barrels per calendar day (bpcd) of crude oil refining capacity. With such a vast network, it’s no surprise that MPC operates the nation’s largest refining system, with each refinery integrated with the others via pipelines, terminals, and barges to maximise the operating efficiency of each one. MPC’s refineries are integrated with its midstream assets to maximise its operating efficiency, and through its Midstream business, which provides the transportation links that connect its refineries and allow the movement of intermediate products between refineries, MPC can optimise its operations and produce higher margins.
The largest refinery facility operated by MPC is the Garyville Refinery in Louisiana, which is one of the largest refineries in the USA, located along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. The facility has a crude oil capacity of 606,000 bpcd and is configured to process a wide variety of crude oils into gasoline, distillates, natural gas liquids and petrochemicals, heavy fuel oil, asphalt and propane. The facility underwent a vital expansion project in 2019, which significantly increased its capacity, which in turn positioned the Garyville Refinery as one of the largest refineries in the USA. Products from the refinery are transported by pipeline, barge, transport truck, rail and ocean tanker. With access to vital export markets and multiple options for selling refined products, the refinery is a vital facility under MPC’s operation.
Another significant refinery for MPC is its Los Angeles Refinery in California, which is the largest refinery on the West Coast and a major producer for the clean fuel market. The refinery is located near the Los Angeles Harbour and has a crude oil capacity of 365,000 bpcd. The Los Angeles Refinery is a major producer of clean fuels, producing heavy crudes from California’s San Joaquin Valley and Los Angeles Basin, as well as crudes from the Alaska North Slope, South America, West Africa and other international sources. In terms of clean fuel, the Los Angeles refinery manufacturer produces cleaner-burning California Air Resources Board (CARB) gasoline and CARB diesel fuel. CARB is focused on improving air quality and reducing greenhouse gas emissions through regulations on gasoline, and so the Los Angeles Refinery produces gasoline to these standards, highlighting its role in developing clean energy. In addition to this, the refinery also produces conventional gasoline, distillates, natural gas liquids and petrochemicals, heavy fuel oil and propane. These products are shipped via the refineries connected distribution pipelines and terminals, and are connected to the Watson Cogeneration Plant, which produces 400 megawatts and is the largest cogeneration facility in California.
The Los Angeles and Garyville refineries add to MPC’s portfolio of 13 refineries across the USA, which are on a mission to deliver vital crude oil products to market, underpinned by a commitment to doing so with sustainability in mind. This focus on sustainable energy delivery is something that remains a priority for MPC throughout its operations, so much so that the company has 5 renewable fuel and feedstock facilities in operation, which collectively produced 600 million gallons of renewable fuels in 2024, with 2.8 billion gallons of traditional fuels delivered in the same period. This section of MPC is committed to meeting the energy demand of the world, whilst lowering the carbon intensity of its operations and the products it manufactures.
Across MPC’s renewable fuels portfolio is the Dickinson Renewable Diesel Facility, located in North Dakota. The facility delivers renewable diesel and naphtha fuel, with a capacity for 184 million gallons per year. The facility became fully operational in 2021 and is now the second-largest facility of its kind in the USA. Other facilities include the Martinez Renewables, Cincinnati Aggregation Facility, Beatrice Pretreatment Facility, Green Bison Soy Processing Facility and LF Bioenergy. These all provide vital renewables for MPC’s portfolio. One of the most exciting ones is LP Bioenergy, which is focused on developing a portfolio of renewable natural gas (RNG) production facilities on US dairy farms. MPC holds a 49.9% equity interest in LF Bioenergy, and the portfolio’s planned production has the potential to reach over 6,500 MMBtu (million British Thermal Units) per day by the end of 2026. Interest acquisition was announced in 2023, as part of an agreement that included the potential for additional investment.
To fully appreciate the scope of MPC’s midstream business operations, we must look to MPLX LP, which covers the bulk of the company’s operations in this segment. MPLX is MPC’s sponsored master limited partnership, which gathers, transports, stores and distributes the company’s crude oil, refined products (including renewable diesel), and other hydrocarbon-cased production through its regaining logistics assets, pipelines, terminals, towboats, and barges. MPLX gathers, processes and transports the natural gas, whilst also transporting, fractionating, storing and marketing natural gas liquids. Utilising its assets, MPLX includes a network of crude oil and refined product pipelines, an inland marine business, light-product terminals, storage caverns, refinery tanks, docks, loading racks and associated piping, as well as crude and light-product marine terminals. With the ownership of many crude oil and natural gas gathering systems and pipelines, as well as natural gas and natural gas liquid processing and fractionation facilities in key US Basins, the subsidiary plays a vital role in supporting the development and delivery of MPC’s crude oil and associated products delivery from its refineries and across to end markets.
Turning to MPC’s downstream operations, the company has two key brands under the MPC name, with Marathon and ARCO-branded locations. These locations include Marathon-branded gas stations, where customers can purchase Marathon-branded gasoline, which is available across retail outlets in the USA. Each station is primarily owned and operated by independent entrepreneurs, and each location offers a range of services, including convenience store products, car washes, and co-branded food products. The other branded locations are the ARCO Gas stations. ARCO has been the leading gasoline provider in the USA for more than 50 years, with its primary locations focused along the West Coast and Upper Midwest, with stations also located in Mexico. The stations offer quality TOP TIER™ gasoline, which exceeds EPA standards to help improve engine performance, efficiency, and cleanliness. Across these service stations, MPC is providing vital gasoline to the public to help power the daily lives of those across the country. Thus, highlighting MPC’s integrated role across the energy sector.
MPC plays a valuable role across the energy sector of the USA, with both vital refineries and a plethora of retail locations across the country that are delivering a significant amount of crude oil products across the nation. With every aspect of its operations closely intertwined from its refining to its midstream infrastructure and logistics development, and then to its retail outlets and end customer delivery of petrochemical products, MPC maintains an efficient and leading role as an integrated downstream and midstream energy company. However, across these operations, there is always a focus on sustainability and the community. By ensuring that its projects are delivering a better world for all, especially through the development of renewable energy, MPC continues to drive towards a future where energy accessibility continues to evolve and innovate to meet the demands of the population and the planet.
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