POLAND

Marathon holds a 100 percent working interest in 10 concessions in Poland, totaling approximately 2.1 million acres and spanning the full geographic extent of the country's Lower Paleozoic shale play. The Company acquired these concessions between December 2009 and July 2010. Marathon opened an office in Warsaw in July 2010 and plans to commence proprietary 2D seismic acquisitions in winter 2010-2011, with initial drilling anticipated to start in 2011.

Poland's Lower Paleozoic shale play may be the largest and most significant opportunity for unconventional gas in central Europe and is evolving rapidly in the wake of successful shale plays in North America. Natural gas demand in the large and growing European market is approximately 50 to 55 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd), with imports from outside the European Union accounting for approximately 50 percent of total gas requirements.