Marathon Oil to Spin Off Refining, Marketing Business

Marathon Oil Corp., the largest refiner in the U.S.
Midwest, will spin off its fuel-making business,
creating two independent energy companies.
Marathon Petroleum Corp. will be the fifth-largest
independent refiner by capacity and will be based
in Findlay, Ohio, the company said in a statement
today. The spinoff is expected to be tax free and
effective June 30.
The announcement was made before the start of
regular trading on U.S. markets. Marathon, based
in Houston, rose $4.22, or 10 percent, to $44.75
at 7:30 a.m. in New York.
Marathon said after the spinoff it will be focused
on crude oil production and exploration. The
company considered the split in 2008, but
delayed it due to financial market turmoil and
lower commodities prices.
“The substantial improvement in the global
business and financial environments over the last
two years has created the conditions under
which we believe it is now appropriate to move
forward with the formation of two strong
independent energy companies, ” Clarence P.
Cazalot, Marathon’s chief executive officer, said in
the statement.
The spinoff will include the company’s refining
and marketing business, retail network and
pipelines. Marathon ’s exploration and production
arm will include oil-sands mining and integrated
gas.
(Marathon will hold a conference call for investors
at 11 a.m. New York time, accessible on their
website http://www.marathon.com)


Source: Http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-13/marathon-oil-to-spin-off-refining-marketing-business.html

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Oil Spin-Off: Marathon to Create Separate Company for Downstream Business

Integrated oil company
Marathon Oil Corporation
( MRO ) on Thursday
announced a planned spin-off
of its downstream business,
sending its shares soaring in
premarket trading.
The company will spin off its
refining operations into a
separate entity called
Marathon Petroleum
Corporation, which will trade
on the NYSE with symbol MPC.
The new company will be
headquartered in Findlay,
Ohio and is expected to be the
fifth-largest oil refiner in the
United States.
The spin-off is expected to be
completed tax-free, and will
be effective June 30, 2011.
Marathon Oil shares jumped
$4.33, or +11%, in premarket
trading Thursday.
The Bottom Line
Shares of Marathon Oil (MRO
) have a 2.47% dividend
yield, based on last night’s
closing stock price of $40.53.
The stock has technical
support in the $36 price area.
If the shares can hold today ’s
rise, we see initial overhead
resistance around the $45-$46
price levels.
Marathon Oil Corporation
( MRO ) is not
recommended at this time,
holding a Dividend.com
DARS ™ Rating of 3.4 out of 5
stars.

Source: Http://blogs.forbes.com/dividend/2011/01/13/oil-spin-off-marathon-to-create-separate-company-for-downstream-business/?boxes=Homepagechannels

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Burying dead grim task after Brazil mudslides

TERESOPOLIS, Brazil -- As night
fell, barefoot volunteers
dragged a generator and
stadium lights into a town
cemetery, where nearly 200
freshly dug graves lay open
like wounds in the red clay
soil, waiting for some of the
hundreds killed by torrential
rains.
Funerals already had been
held all day as a light rain
persisted Thursday: a sister
laying her brother to rest, a
man burying his 1-year-old
niece in a small white casket,
a mother who cried her 9-
year-old son's name
repeatedly as he was lowered
into the earth.
Small, handmade white
crosses identified only by
numbers - the details would
have to come later - dotted
the desolate, sodden hilltop.
Dozens more funerals will
come Friday and 300 more
graves will be dug Saturday,
said Vitor da Costa Soares, a
city worker in charge of the
cemetery.
"We'll make room. We have
to. We'll stay up here until 10
p.m., midnight if we can, and
we'll be here at 6 a.m.
tomorrow," he said.
At least 476 people were
known dead after heavy rains
unleashed mudslides before
dawn Wednesday, burying
people as they slept. Survivors
started digging for friends and
relatives with their bare
hands, kitchen utensils,
whatever they could find as
they waited for help in remote
neighborhoods perched
precariously on steep,
washed-out hillsides.
In the remote Campo Grande
neighborhood of Teresopolis,
now accessible only by a
perilous five-mile (eight-
kilometer) hike through mud-
slicked jungle, family
members pulled the lifeless
bodies of loved ones from the
muck. They carefully laid the
corpses on dry ground,
covering them with blankets.
A young boy cried out as his
father's body was found: "I
want to see my dad! I want to
see my dad!"
Flooding and mudslides are
common in Brazil when the
summer rains come, but this
week's slides were among the
worst in recent memory. The
disasters punish the poor, who
often live in rickety shacks
perched perilously on steep
hillsides with little or no
foundations. But even the rich
did not escape the damage in
Teresopolis, where large
homes were washed away.
"I have friends still lost in all
of this mud," said Carlos
Eurico, a resident of Campo
Grande, as he motioned to a
sea of destruction behind him.
"It's all gone. It's all over now.
We're putting ourselves in the
hands of God."
In the same area, Nilson
Martins, 35, carefully held the
only thing pulled out alive
since dawn: a pet rabbit that
had somehow remained
pristinely white despite the
mud.
"We're just digging around,
there is no way of knowing
where to look," he said.
"There are three more bodies
under the rubble over there.
One seems to be a girl, no
more than 16, dead, buried
under that mud."


Source: Http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/14/AR2011011400926.html

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