Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC Announces Purchase of Ft. Lauderdale Terminal

FINDLAY, Ohio, March 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC (MAP) today announced an agreement with Motiva Enterprises LLC to purchase one of Motiva's three Port Everglades terminals located in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The transaction is expected to close in early June, pending completion of various pre-closing activities. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

 

The 388,000 barrel light product terminal, located on Spangler Avenue in Port Everglades, will enable MAP to better serve the growing Florida market, to improve logistics, and to add flexibility to its product sourcing.

"The acquisition will increase MAP's light product terminal storage capacity at Ft. Lauderdale by over 70 percent. It also demonstrates MAP's commitment to providing quality fuels to our Florida customers," explained Jerry Welch, MAP's senior vice president, Transportation & Logistics.

Based in Findlay, Ohio, MAP is the nation's fifth largest refiner with 948,000 barrels-per-day capacity in its seven-refinery system. MAP's retail marketing system comprises approximately 5,400 locations in 17 states; nearly three-quarters are Marathon brand locations. MAP serves the Midwest and Southeast as a petroleum products marketer with 94 light product and asphalt terminals and access to about 8,400 miles of pipeline. MAP is a limited liability company owned 62 percent by Marathon Oil Company (NYSE: MRO) and 38 percent by Ashland Inc. (NYSE: ASH).

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, Motiva Enterprises LLC is a refining and marketing joint venture owned by affiliates of Shell and Saudi Aramco. Motiva's marketing operations support a network of nearly 11,000 Shell- and Texaco-branded gasoline stations in the eastern and southern United States. Company assets include three refineries located in Norco, La.; Convent, La. and Port Arthur, Tex., capable of refining approximately 705,000 barrels per day (bpd), and ownership or partial interests in 47 product terminals.

SOURCE  Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC
    -0-                             03/31/2005
    /CONTACT:  Linda Casey of Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC, +1-419-421-3262/
    (MRO ASH)
CO:  Marathon Ashland Petroleum LLC; Motiva Enterprises LLC; Marathon Oil
     Company; Ashland Inc.
ST:  Ohio, Florida
IN:  OIL
SU:  TNM
MM-JJ
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8822 03/31/2005 07:00 EST http://www.prnewswire.com

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995:
Statements in this press release regarding Ashland's business which are not historical
facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a
discussion of such risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from
those contained in the forward-looking statements, see "Risk Factors" in the Company's
Annual Report or Form 10-K for the most recently ended fiscal year.