Marathon announces plans to sell St. Paul Park refinery

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Marathon Petroleum Co. announced Wednesday plans to sell its St. Paul Park refinery and SuperMom’s Bakery to ACON Investments, NTR Partners and TPG Capital according to a press release.

Marthon and the private equity firms have entered into a non-binding letter of intent that would include sale of the refinery and 166 SuperAmerica gas stations — a transaction value expected to top $800 million, the press release says.

Marathon anticipates closing on the agreement in the third or fourth quarter of the year, the release says.

The St. Paul Park refinery produces 74,000 barrels of oil per day, the release says.

The refinery celebrated its 70th year in business in 2009. It was started in 1939 by the seven Erickson brothers, and later sold to Ashland Oil, Inc., in 1970. Ashland and Marathon merged in 1998 to become Marathon Ashland Petroleum. Marathon completed the buyout of Ashland Oil in 2005, and the company name became the Marathon Petroleum Co.

Timeline: St. Paul Park refinery

1939 - The seven Erickson brothers, realizing a need for an immediately available supply of fuel in the Twin Cities area, found the Northwestern Refining Company by purchasing a bankrupt Texas refinery for $75,000 and relocating it to St. Paul Park.

1946 - The Mississippi River barge terminal opens for operation. The refinery receives its first shipment of six crude barges in May.

1953 – St. Paul Park refinery completes its first major expansion project. The expansion adds a Fluidized Catalytic Cracker (FCC) unit to upgrade heavier oils to gasoline and a catalytic polymerization unit to convert propylene to gasoline.

1955 – The company begins processing Canadian crude oil from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Five crude storage tanks are built in Cottage Grove to store the Canadian crude.

1956 - Northwestern purchases Oskey Brothers Company. This provides the company with the North Star brand gasoline stations as an outlet for their products

1960 – SuperAmerica is formed as a subsidiary through which Northwestern distributes its brand-name gasoline. The first Superamerica station is a combination car wash/service station located in downtown St. Paul.

1961 – Company participates in its first oil well in Bottineau County, North Dakota

1962 – Trax Oil Company – a regional gasoline marketer with service stations in three states– is acquired. This provides Northwestern with 17 additional stations.

1965 – St. Paul park refinery completes expansion project to increase refinery capacity from 16,000 barrels per day to 26,000 barrels per day. Expansion increases the capacity of the FCC and adds an Alkylation unit and storage tanks.

1965 - Northwestern drills its first Canadian oil well.

1970 – Ashland Oil, Inc. acquires the Northwestern Refining Company along with the Superamerica, Trax , Webb and North Star brands.

1975 – SuperAmerica introduces fresh baked goods at a Milwaukee store. The concept is successful and added to all the stores in the Milwaukee area. The concept is introduced into the Twin Cities and the name Supermom’s is created for the concept.

1986 – A second platforming unit is relocated from Ashland’s idled Buffalo, N.Y. refinery to the St. Paul Park refinery. This unit provides additional capacity for octane upgrading of the motor fuels in premium gasoline.

1998 – Ashland Petroleum Company and Marathon Petroleum Company merge to form Marathon Ashland Petroleum, the sixth largest refining company in the U.S. The company operates seven refineries throughout the Midwest.

2005 – Marathon Oil completes the buyout of Ashland, Inc. minority share of Marathon Ashland Petroleum. The company name is changed to Marathon Petroleum Company.

2007 – The refinery completes an upgrade of the Fluidized Catalytic Cracking unit to increase capacity by 10 percent and upgrade the environmental emission controls for the unit.

Compiled by Marathon Petroleum Co. Refining Engineer Brian Veach

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