Earnings Per Share: Reported $2.58 for the quarter.
Adjusted EBITDA: $3.3 billion for the quarter, with a sequential decrease from the fourth quarter of 2023 by approximately $300 million.
Refinery Throughput: Approximately 2.4 million barrels per day during the quarter, reflecting a reduction due to planned turnaround activity.
Operating Costs: $6.14 per barrel in Q1 2024, higher sequentially primarily due to lower throughputs.
Share Repurchase: Announced an additional $5 billion share repurchase authorization.
Capital Expenditures, Investments, and Acquisitions: Total of $1.3 billion in Q1, including MPLX’s $625 million strategic acquisition in the Utica Basin.
Future Guidance
Throughput Volumes: Projected to be nearly 2.8 million barrels per day in Q2 2024, representing 94% utilization.
Planned Turnaround Expense: Expected to be approximately $200 million in Q2 2024, primarily in the Mid-Con region.
Operating Costs (OpEx): Projected at $4.95 per barrel in Q2 2024, with an expectation to trend towards $5 per barrel for the full year, subject to energy cost volatility.
Distribution Costs: Anticipated to be around $1.5 billion for Q2 2024.
Corporate Costs: Expected to be $200 million for the same quarter.
Trends, Market Conditions, Sentiment
Demand and Supply: Oil demand at a record high globally with forecasts estimating 1.2 to 2 million barrels per day of incremental demand over 2023. Market remains structurally advantageous for the U.S. refining industry due to constrained global supply and slow capacity additions.
Mid-Cycle Environment: Anticipated to remain enhanced for the refining industry, supported by strong demand, constrained global supply, and the advantage of the U.S. refining system.
Capital Discipline: Continued focus on investing in high-return projects and maintaining capital discipline while committing to returning excess capital through share repurchases.
Midstream Growth: MPLX identified as a strategic advantage, expected to continue increasing its cash distributions and supporting MPC’s capital returns and dividend payments.
Share Repurchases: Commitment reaffirmed with an additional $5 billion authorization, with total capital return since May 2021 reaching $35 billion.
Notable Quotes
”Oil demand is at a record high globally, and we expect oil demand to continue to set records into the foreseeable future."
"We believe the U.S. refining industry will remain structurally advantaged over the rest of the world."
"We remain focused on capital discipline while investing to grow earnings at strong returns."
"MPLX is strategic to MPC’s portfolio…fully covers MPC’s dividend and more than half of our planned 2024 capital program."
"We continue to believe share repurchases make sense at the current share price level…buying into a premier, highly advantaged refining system."
"Our total capital return through share repurchases and dividends since May of 2021 now totals $35 billion with MPC share count reduced by nearly 50%.”
