Marathon Oil began as "The Ohio Oil Company" in 1887. In 1889, the company was purchased by
John D. Rockefeller's
Standard Oil. It remained a part of Standard Oil until Standard Oil was broken up in 1911. In 1930, The Ohio Oil Company bought the Transcontinental Oil Company, including the "Marathon" brand name. In 1962, the company changed its name to "Marathon Oil Company". Ohio Oil finished an 8-inch pipe line from their
Martinsville pump station to
Wood River on December 21, 1907, work on the refinery at Wood River was underway. In response to a 1914 Supreme Court decision declaring oil pipelines common carriers under the
Hepburn Act and subject to the supervision of the
Interstate Commerce Commission, in January 1915 the pipeline assets of the company in Pennsylvania (valued at $250,000), Ohio ($6,377,700), Indiana ($5,357,100) and Illinois ($7,815,200) were spun off into the
Illinois Pipe Line Company (incorporated November 30, 1914 in Ohio). The segregation was reversed in March 1930 when Ohio Oil bought back Illinois Pipe Line Co. The pipe line ran from
Wood River, Illinois to the Pennsylvania-New Jersey border at
Centerbridge where it connected to Standard Oil's pipeline system and the
Bayonne refinery. The line also reached the
Lima, Ohio plant of the Solar Refining Company. Maps: 1931 The company sponsored an aerial demonstration team called the "Linco Flying Aces" in the 1930s. In 1959, the Ohio Oil Company acquired Detroit based Aurora Oil Company which operated Speedway 79 stations and became an Ohio Oil subsidiary. In 1962, the Speedway 79 and Marathon fuel stations were consolidated under the Marathon name and the Ohio Oil Company is renamed Marathon Oil Company. In 1981,
Mobil made a
hostile takeover offer to buy the company. However, the board of Marathon Oil rejected the offer and instead sold the company to
United States Steel. A legal battle ensued thereafter. In 1984, Marathon purchased the U.S. unit of
Husky Energy for $505 million. In 1990, the headquarters was moved to
Houston, Texas, but the company's refining subsidiary maintained its headquarters in
Findlay, Ohio. In 1993, the company sold
Findlay Airport to the City of Findlay. In 1998, Marathon and
Ashland Global contributed their refining operations to Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC (MAP), now
Marathon Petroleum. In 2001, USX, the holding company that owned
United States Steel and Marathon, spun off the steel business and, in 2002, USX renamed itself Marathon Oil Corporation. In 2003, Marathon sold its Canadian operations to
Husky Energy. In 2003, the company sold its interest in the
Yates Oil Field to
Kinder Morgan for $225 million. In 2007, Marathon acquired Western Oil Sands for $6.6 billion and gained ownership of its 20% stake in the
Athabasca oil sands in northern
Alberta, Canada and other assets in the
midwestern United States. In 2011, Marathon completed the
corporate spin-off of
Marathon Petroleum, distributing a 100% interest to its shareholders. In June 2013, Marathon sold its Angolan oil and gas field to
Sinopec for $1.52 billion. In September 2013, Marathon sold a 10% stake in an oil and gas field offshore
Angola for $590 million to
Sonangol Group. In October 2014, the company sold its business in Norway to
Det Norske Oljeselskap ASA for $2.1 billion. In 2017, it sold its interests in the
Athabasca oil sands for $2.5 billion and acquired assets in the
Permian Basin for $1.2 billion. In March 2018, it sold its assets in
Libya for $450 million to
TotalEnergies SE. In December 2022, the company acquired assets in the Eagle Ford from Ensign Natural Resources for $3.0 billion in cash. In November 2024,
ConocoPhillips acquired the company in a $22.5 billion transaction. ==Lawsuits==