Marathon

As gasoline prices increased 49.6% in 2021, Marathon Petroleum was one of the three biggest US oil companies that collectively saw previously negative profits jump nearly $87.5 billion and boosted shareholder handouts by over $4.5 billion in FY 2021.

Marathon’s CEO Lee Tillman has admitted that the company’s “cash flow-driven return of capital framework uniquely prioritizes our shareholders as the first call on cash flow generation, not the drill bit.” 

Most recently, gas prices hit an average of $4.12 a gallon in the past few months, reaching the highest they have been since 2014. Meanwhile, oil and gas CEOs made nearly $45 million more in 2021 than they did in 2020, with 28 major companies, including Marathon Petroleum, giving out a grand total of $394 million to their chief executives. 

In Q1 of 2022, Marathon Petroleum Corp. posted first-quarter earnings of $845 million, or $1.49 a share, compared with a loss of $242 million, or 37 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter.