Marathon Oil

Marathon Oil Corporation was an American company engaged in hydrocarbon exploration. In November 2024, it was acquired by ConocoPhillips and absorbed into the company.

Marathon was founded in Lima, Ohio, as the Ohio Oil Company. In 1899, the company was acquired by the Standard Oil Company (New Jersey). After the antitrust case against Jersey Standard in 1911 and subsequent breakup of its holdings, Ohio Oil once again became an independent company. In 1930, Ohio Oil acquired the Transcontinental Oil Company, which operated the "Marathon" brand of retail fuel stations. Ohio Oil continued to use the Marathon brand, and in 1962, Ohio changed its name to the Marathon Oil Company.

In January 1982, Marathon was acquired by U.S. Steel. After the acquisition, the USX Corporation was created to act as the parent of U.S. Steel and Marathon Oil, which operated as divisions. In 2001, USX spun off Marathon under the name Marathon Oil Corporation. In 2011, Marathon Oil spun off its downstream operations as Marathon Petroleum.

As of December 31, 2020, the company had 972 million barrels of oil equivalent (5.95×10⁹ GJ) of estimated proven reserves, of which 86% was in the United States and 14% was in Equatorial Guinea. The company's proved reserves consisted 52% of petroleum, 30% natural gas and 18% natural gas liquids. In 2020, the company sold 383 thousand barrels of oil equivalent (2,340,000 GJ) per day, of which 26% was from the Eagle Ford Group, 27% was from the Bakken formation, 17% was from Oklahoma, 7% was from the Northern Delaware Basin, 2% was from other U.S. sources, and 20% was from Equatorial Guinea.

Marathon Oil began as "The Ohio Oil Company" in 1887. In 1889, the company was purchased by John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil. It remained a part of Standard Oil until Standard Oil was broken up in 1911. In 1930, The Ohio Oil Company bought the Transcontinental Oil Company, including the "Marathon" brand name. In 1962, the company changed its name to "Marathon Oil Company".

Ohio Oil finished an 8-inch pipe line from their Martinsville pump station to Wood River on December 21, 1907, work on the refinery at Wood River was underway.

In response to a 1914 Supreme Court decision declaring oil pipelines common carriers under the Hepburn Act and subject to the supervision of the Interstate Commerce Commission, in January 1915 the pipeline assets of the company in Pennsylvania (valued at $250,000), Ohio ($6,377,700), Indiana ($5,357,100) and Illinois ($7,815,200) were spun off into the Illinois Pipe Line Company (incorporated November 30, 1914 in Ohio). The segregation was reversed in March 1930 when Ohio Oil bought back Illinois Pipe Line Co. The pipe line ran from Wood River, Illinois to the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border at Centerbridge where it connected to Standard Oil's pipeline system and the Bayonne refinery. The line also reached the Lima, Ohio plant of the Solar Refining Company. Maps: 1931

In 1959, the Ohio Oil Company acquired Detroit based Aurora Oil Company which operated Speedway 79 stations and became an Ohio Oil subsidiary.