Marathon Petroleum Corp. plans to “maximize” input of U.S. crude in the third quarter, taking advantage of bottlenecks in key shale plays that have weakened domestic prices, Reuters reported.
The company said on a Thursday earnings call that about 32 percent of its total throughput of 1.95 million barrels per day will be crude linked to the U.S. benchmark price, up from 23 percent during the same stretch last year.
Input of U.S. crude at the company’s Midwest refineries is expected to jump to 53 percent of total throughput in the third quarter, up from 38 percent last year.
U.S. and Canadian producers have been forced to sell crude at a discount versus global prices as production has outpaced pipeline capacity. (Reporting By Jarrett Renshaw Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
