Marathon profit declines

FINDLAY — Lower refining margins reduced Marathon Petroleum Corp.'s profit by 32% last quarter from the same period a year earlier to $1.52 billion, the company reported Tuesday. Earnings in the April-through-June quarter were $4.33 per diluted share. Revenue rose 4.2% from the same period a year earlier to $38.36 billion. Refining and marketing operating profit fell by 42% to $1.32 billion. Refining and marketing margin declined 21%, to $17.37 per barrel, from the same period a year earlier. Refined product sales volume rose 4.5% from the same period a year earlier to 3.74 billion barrels per day. Operating profit rose by 6% to $1.28 billion for Marathon Petroleum's logistics, storage and natural gas processing segment, primarily reflecting its MPLX subsidiary. Discussing the global environment in the industry last quarter, Chief Executive Officer Maryann Mannen said "supply of refined products reached all-time seasonal highs. The margin environment supported assets running at high utilitization, and new capacity additions continue to ramp." "At the same time, demand for refined products set new records globally. We expect 2024 will be another year of record refined product consumption," she said. "Within (Marathon Petroleum's) domestic and export businesses we are seeing steady demand year-over-year for gasoline and diesel and growing demand for jet fuel." "As we look forward, demand growth is expected to outpace near term capacity additions over time with limited global refining capacity additions expected through the end of the decade," Mannen said.