Marathon Oil

Not to be confused with Marathon Petroleum.

Marathon Oil Corporation

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: MRO
Industry	Oil and gas industry
Predecessor	The Ohio Oil Company
Founded	1887 (1887)
Headquarters	Houston, Texas, United States
Key people	Thomas J. Usher (Chairman) Clarence P. Cazalot, Jr. (President) & (CEO)
Products	Petroleum Natural gas
Revenue	$ 77.193 billion (2008)
Operating income	$ 7.023 billion (2008)
Net income	$ 3.528 billion (2008)
Total assets	$ 42.686 billion (2008)
Total equity	$ 21.409 billion (2008)
Employees	29,524 (2008)
Website	marathonoil.com

Marathon Oil Tower, the headquarters of Marathon Oil

Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) is a United States-based oil and natural gas exploration and production company. Principal exploration activities are in the United States, Norway, Equatorial Guinea, Angola and Canada. Principal development activities are in the United States, the United Kingdom, Norway, Equatorial Guinea, and Gabon. Marathon's headquarters facility is the Marathon Oil Tower in Houston, Texas.^[1]

History

Marathon began as The Ohio Oil Company in 1887. In 1889, it was purchased by John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil trust. It remained a part of Standard Oil until the trust was broken in 1911. In 1930, The Ohio bought the Transcontinental Oil Company, giving it the Marathon brand name. In 1962, the company changed its name to "Marathon Oil Company" after its main brand name. Mobil wanted to buy the company in 1981. The residents of Findlay, Ohio, the corporation's home town, worried that the Findlay jobs would be lost so Marathon looked for a white knight. They found one in 1982 when United States Steel bought the company. The headquarters moved to Houston in 1990 but the company maintains downstream operations in Findlay. In 2001, USX, the holding company that owned United States Steel and Marathon, spun off the steel business and in 2002 USX renamed itself Marathon Oil Corporation.^{[citation needed]}

In 1998, Marathon and Ashland, Inc., formed Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC to refine, market and transport crude oil and petroleum products, primarily in the Midwest, the upper Great Plains and southeastern United States.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003, Marathon sold off its Canadian operations to Calgary-based Husky Energy. In that same year, they sold off their interest in the giant Yates Oil Field to Kinder Morgan.^[2]

In late 2003, Marathon Oil and partners (Noble Energy, AMPCO) started the Bioko Island Malaria Control Project (BIMCP) in Equatorial Guinea. Malaria control activities included indoor residual spraying, improved diagnosis and case management, and capacity building to contain future outbreaks. As of late 2005, BIMCP had proven being successful in reducing malaria transmission, reducing the proportion of children with malaria parasites, and improving iron status. BIMCP is perceived as a model of hands-on corporate involvement in a humanitarian effort with government, non-profits and academic organizations to reduce the burden of malaria in countries located in Equatorial Africa. Equatorial Guinea's President Obiang Nguema is one of the world's worst dictators (Parade Magazine). Marathon's humanitarian efforts have mitigated some of the criticism resulting from their dealings with Nguema's regime.^{[citation needed]}

On January 13, 2011, Marathon moved forward with plans to spin-off Marathon Petroleum. The spin-off was completed on July 1, 2011.^[3]

Marathon Oil is a signatory participant of the Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights.

Environmental record

The Political Economy Research Institute ranks Marathon Oil 96th among corporations emitting airborne pollutants in the United States. The ranking is based on the quantity (1.5 million pounds in 2005) and toxicity of the emissions.^[4] In 2000, the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Cabinet demanded that Marathon pay a $170,000 penalty for a pipeline spill earlier that year.^[5] This case was settled in 2002. That same year Texas sent a “Notice of Enforcement” citing Marathon for “excess air emissions” from its Yates Gas Plant.^[5] Marathon was prosecuted for air permit violations in 2003 by Louisiana. The Environmental Protection Agency then prosecuted Marathon for not following a pollution prevention plan as well as not complying with the stormwater permit.^[5] In November 2006 The Environmental Protection Agency published the list of PCB violations by Marathon Oil company for sum of $38,000.^[6]

See also

	Houston portal
	Companies portal
	Energy portal

• Marathon Petroleum Company
• Speedway SuperAmerica
• Standard Oil
• James C. Donnell

References

1. ^ "Contact Us." Marathon Oil. Retrieved on August 22, 2009.
2. ^ Rigzone article on 2003 Kinder Morgan acquisition
3. ^ "Marathon spin-off gives Ohio fifth largest refiner". Associated Press via Yahoo! Finance. http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Marathon-spinoff-gives-Ohio-apf-556167798.html?x=0&.v=7. Retrieved July 1, 2011. 
4. ^ "Toxic 100 Index". Political Economy Research Institute. 2008-09-11. http://www.peri.umass.edu/toxic100_index/. Retrieved 2009-05-23. 
5. ^ ^{a b c} "MARATHON OIL CORP - MRO Annual Report (10-K) Item 3. Legal Proceedings". EDGAR-Online. http://sec.edgar-online.com/2004/03/09/0001193125-04-036535/Section3.asp. Retrieved 2007-11-07. 
6. ^ Daniel Duncan (2006). "Marathon Oil Company settles PCB Violations for $38,000". EPA. http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/a883dc3da7094f97852572a00065d7d8/41aaa7c8ff6f554885257234006ce928!OpenDocument. Retrieved April 16, 2008. 

• Droz, R.V. (2004). Standard Oil : Today. Retrieved June 26, 2005.
• Marathon Oil Corporation (2003). Our History. Retrieved June 26, 2005.

External links

• Marathon Oil
• Confex Tech Program - Marathon Oil
• Marathon Oil stock performance chart
• Marathon CEO discusses America's energy security (BIC Magazine, September 2007)