Marathon Petroleum smashed quarterly profit estimates on Tuesday, the latest U.S. refiner to benefit from a surge in fuel prices sparked by tight capacity and low inventories.
The company’s refining and marketing margins tripled to $37.54 per barrel in the April-June quarter, mirroring similar gains at rivals such as Phillips 66 and sending Marathon’s shares 4 percent higher in premarket trading.
Global refining capacity has declined in the past two years because the pandemic-driven demand hit forced several less profitable operations to shut shop, while Western sanctions against Russia have tightened an already-supplied market.
Marathon’s refineries ran at nearly full capacity in the second quarter, resulting in a total throughput of 3.1 million barrels per day (bpd), compared with utilization of 94 percent and a total throughput of 2.9 million bpd a year earlier….