Marathon Petroleum profit soars on strong fuel demand

[August 02, 2022]  (Reuters) - U.S. refiner Marathon Petroleum reported a jump in quarterly adjusted profit on Tuesday, riding on a surge in demand for fuel and refined products amid tight supplies.

Cargo shipping containers, surrounded by storage tanks for refined petroleum products, are seen at Marathon Petroleum's Los Angeles Refinery, in Carson, California, U.S., March 11, 2022. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Bing Guan

Easing COVID-19 curbs and a travel boom have helped fuel demand near pre-pandemic levels this year, while Western sanctions against Russia over the Ukraine invasion have tightened an already-supplied market.

Refining capacity has especially been low because several less profitable operations were forced to close in the past two years due to the COVID-driven demand drop and a shift towards the production of cleaner fuels.

Marathon's refining and marketing margins rose to $37.54 per barrel in the second quarter ended June 30, from $12.45 per barrel year earlier.

Adjusted income was $5.69 billion, or $10.61 per share, compared with $437 million, or 67 cents per share, a year earlier. The year-ago quarter had benefited from a $11.68 billion gain on the sale of the Speedway unit.

(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Aditya Soni)

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