Marathon Petroleum Lands in Louisiana

RESERVE, La. -- Marathon Petroleum Corp. made its first foray into Louisiana on Thursday with the opening of a convenience store and gas station here.

The parent of Speedway LLC opened its first branded Pelican State store at 4450 W. Airline Highway in the town of about 10,000 residents. Reserve is located in the southeastern part of Louisiana, near the junction of Interstate 10 and Interstate 55.

As CSNews Online reported on May 22, Speedway announced it would purchase Hess Corp.'s retail network of 1,256 convenience stores for a total cash consideration of $2.87 billion. Assuming the deal closes -- which is expected to take place in the third quarter of this year -- Speedway will become the second-largest c-store operator in the United States with 2,733 company-owned stores in 23 states.

Although Marathon Petroleum had no retail exposure in Louisiana before Thursday, its former parent company, Marathon Oil Corp., has done plenty of business in the state. According to the Times-Picayune, Marathon Oil purchased the Garyville refinery in 1976 and has operated it ever since.

Findlay, Ohio-based Marathon Petroleum was spun off from Marathon Oil in June 2011.