Emerging Technology

Marathon has an enterprise-wide focus on technologies such as alternative and renewable fuels, energy efficiency and carbon intensity, and carbon capture and sequestration. Emerging technology provides a forward look at technology development to adapt Marathon's business model to address challenges facing the energy industry and to identify potential investment opportunities that can be leveraged through the Company's expertise and infrastructure.

Biofuels and other renewable energy resources increase the diversity of supply resources in the U.S. Marathon is investing in manufacturing, blending and distributing biofuels, a growing component in the U.S. transportation fuel mix. For more than 15 years, Marathon has been a leading blender of corn-based ethanol, a primary renewable fuel in the U.S. The Company has the capability to blend approximately 1.2 billion gallons of ethanol per year and to sell ethanol-blended gasoline across most of its light product gasoline terminal facilities in 18 states.

Marathon has also invested in the manufacture of ethanol through a 50 percent interest in a Greenville, Ohio, facility and a 35 percent interest in a Clymers, Indiana, facility. Each plant has capacity to manufacture 110 million gallons per year of ethanol.

The Company is also studying opportunities in next-generation biofuels and has invested $10 million in a company that will identify, patent and deploy microbes and low-cost processes for
producing cellulosic ethanol from a range of feedstocks. Next-generation biofuels are those produced from feedstocks that have no food value or are grown on land that cannot be used for producing food.

Other emerging technologies under investigation include carbon capture and storage. Marathon is participating in industry and academic projects related to emerging technologies, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Carbon Sequestration Initiative, the Gulf Coast Carbon Center and an evaluation of options to capture and store CO2 in the U.K.