US Martinez facility on pace for Q1 production goals – Marathon

HOUSTON (ICIS)–US Marathon Petroleum’s Martinez Renewables Fuels project (MRF), continues on schedule, officials said during the company’s 2022 Q4 earnings conference call on Tuesday.

The MRF is a joint venture of Marathon and Neste to transform the once-idled refinery in Martinez, California, into a renewable fuels production site.

The facility remains on track for production of 260m gal/year of renewable diesel in Q1 of this year, with pretreatment capabilities to come online in the second half of 2023.

By Q4 of 2023, MPC and Neste said they expect the converted Martinez refinery to reach its full production capacity of 730m gal/year.

Additionally, Marathon officials said the Dickinson renewable diesel facility in North Dakota has optimised operations to be able to bring in more advantaged feedstocks, lowering the carbon intensity of the fuels produced.

“We’ve enhanced our position in the renewables value chain … We’ll continue to look for opportunities leveraging strategic partnerships with Neste and ADM,” Mike Hennigan, Marathon CEO, said.

Hennigan added than Marathon was also executing a plan at its Los Angeles refinery, which will improve energy efficiency and lower facility emissions.

Company-wide, Q4 2022 crude capacity utilisation stood at 94%, with a total throughput of 2.9m bbl/day, “roughly flat” year on year, Marathon said.

“Refining operating costs per barrel were $5.62 for Q4 2022, versus $5.36 for Q4 2021. The majority of this increase was primarily driven by higher energy costs, project expense associated with higher turnaround activity, as well as a special compensation expense,” said the company.

Additional reporting by Jonathan Lopez