Overview
- Marathon announced Tuesday that it agreed to sell the St. Paul Park, Minnesota and Mandan, North Dakota refineries plus related marketing and midstream assets to Carl Icahn–controlled CVR Energy for about $4.2 billion.
- The agreed proceeds are split with Marathon receiving $3.45 billion for the refineries and its midstream unit MPLX receiving $750 million for associated infrastructure, and the two refineries together can process about 177,000 barrels of crude per day.
- Commodities trader Trafigura will invest $800 million for newly issued CVR shares and will act as the exclusive crude supplier and trading intermediary for the acquired facilities while also managing product offtake arrangements.
- The companies expect the deal to close by the end of 2026 if it clears regulatory approvals, and Marathon said it will redeploy its proceeds to projects on the U.S. Gulf Coast while MPLX will target growth in the Permian and Marcellus basins.
- The sale comes as refinery profits have surged because of disruption to oil flows and lower global refining capacity, the acquisition gives CVR a rapid scale-up and affects roughly 375 workers at St. Paul Park while adding up to 590 branded retail locations in the Upper Midwest and Plains.