(Reuters) – Marathon Petroleum Corp posted a bumper profit on Tuesday, benefiting from higher margins on sustained fuel demand and tight crude supplies, and announced an additional $5 billion share repurchase authorization.
Pandemic-era closure of facilities and demand recovery have boosted margins for refiners, with crude supplies also coming under pressure after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Strong demand for refined products has also helped the company, with jet fuel recently sprinting higher while diesel demand fell.
Refining and marketing margin was $26.15 per barrel for the January-March quarter, compared with $15.31 per barrel for the first quarter of 2022.
The Findlay, Ohio-based refiner said net income attributable to the company stood at $2.7 billion, or $6.09 per share, for the three months ended March 31, compared with $845 million, or $1.49 per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)