Marathon Petroleum Corp. on Tuesday beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly profit as refining margins soared amid tight supplies and higher demand for its products.
The top U.S. refiner also approved an additional $5 billion share repurchase plan, joining rival Phillips 66 in increasing shareholder returns. Phillips 66 raised its quarterly dividend on Tuesday by 5 percent to 97 cents per share.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration has criticized oil firms for pouring cash into shareholder payouts rather than expanding capacity despite short supply.
Marathon’s crude capacity utilization was about 94 percent for the fourth quarter, resulting in total throughput of 2.9 million barrels per day (bpd), which was roughly flat year-over-year….