Marathon to Run Refineries at 90% of Combined Capacity in Q3

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster):  Leading U.S. crude oil refiner Marathon Petroleum plans to operate its 13 refineries at 90% of their combined 3 million-barrel-per-day (bpd) capacity in the third quarter, Chief Financial Officer John Quaid said during a Tuesday conference call.

Marathon's refineries ran at 97% of their combined capacity in the second quarter, Quaid said.

Quaid said the throughput planned for the third quarter was based on needed maintenance to be performed and expected lower demand.

"We've got (turnaround) activities, as I mentioned, in the Mid-Continent and the Gulf Coast that are going to affect what we're going to be able to run," Quaid said. "But really we're going to continue to run our assets optimally to meet the demand in the market. Yes, but we will run economically."

Throughput will average 2.6 million bpd, he said.

Marathon's CEO Maryann Mannen said there was no truth to rumors the company was in talks about a buyout with Finnish refiner Neste Oyj.

"I heard you mention that. That rumor is not factual and we are not having any conversations about a buyout with Neste," Mannen said.

Courtesy: www.reuters.com