By Rob Curran

Marathon Petroleum swung to a first-quarter loss as refining profit margins fell sharply alongside oil and gasoline prices.

The Findlay, Ohio, oil refiner and natural-gas pipeline firm swung to a loss of $74 million, or 24 cents from a profit of $937 million, or $2.59 a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization plunged 40% to $1.98 billion as refining and marketing margins on each barrel of oil fell precipitously. Capacity utilization was 89%.

Analysts, on average, had forecast a loss of 56 cents a share.

MPC also owns an interest in MPLX, a midstream company that focuses on gathering, processing, and fractionation assets, as well as crude oil and light product transportation and logistics infrastructure.

Revenue fell to $31.85 billion, compared to the mean analyst target of $31.87 billion. Midstream revenue was a bright spot in the quarter, rising 6.3% to $1.7 billion.

The company said it would continue to expand its MPLX operations, running long-distance pipelines from the Permian Basin oil-and-natural-gas fields to the Gulf Coast, reflecting producer demand.

For the second quarter, Marathon sees refining and operating costs of $5.30 per barrel of oil, distribution costs of $1.53 billion, refining planned turnaround costs of $265 million and depreciation and amortization costs of $410 million.

Marathon plans 2025 capital expenditure of $100 million on its Los Angeles refinery, $150 million on its Robinson, Ill., refinery and $200 million on its Galveston Bay, TX refinery.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

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May 06, 2025 07:20 ET (11:20 GMT)

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