Feb 3 (Reuters) - Marathon Petroleum reported fourth-quarter profit above Wall Street estimate on Tuesday, as a 44% jump in refining margins underscored stronger operational performance after a prolonged downturn in 2024.
Shares of the country's top refiner gained nearly 7% in premarket trading.
U.S. fuel maker margins have begun to rebound from multi-year lows touched in 2024, a pullback that followed the earlier spike triggered by sanctions on Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, which
had constricted global supply.
Quarterly U.S. refinery margins, measured by the 3-2-1 crack spread, were up about 45% on an average in the fourth quarter from a year earlier.
Marathon's refining and marketing margin was at $18.65 per barrel during the quarter, compared with $12.93 per barrel a year earlier.
Its refining and marketing segment posted a quarterly core profit of about $2 billion, compared with $559 million a year earlier.
That helped the company counter a 46% surge in quarterly turnaround expenses for its refineries to $410 million.
The refiner's crude oil capacity utilization was at 95% during the quarter, compared with 94% a year earlier. Throughput volumes stood at 3 million barrels per day, in line with the year earlier.
Marathon expects throughput volumes of 2.74 mmbpd and turnaround expenses of $465 million for the first quarter.
Refiners in the United States will also benefit from full-scale resumption of Venezuelan oil exports and lower fuel production costs.
Marathon said last month it was interested in bidding for Venezuelan crude oil, and that its Lake Charles and Sweeny refineries in Texas have the capacity to process a couple hundred thousand barrels per day of the crude.
The refiner posted adjusted profit of $4.07 per share for the three months ended December 31, compared with analysts' average estimate of $2.88 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
(Reporting by Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar)
