Marathon and Murphy Oil outlined some of their activities and investments in ethanol. Marathon has invested in production with two plants and a network spread out across the Midwest and into the southeast with a Virginia impact in the valley. Marathon’s Cliff Cook believes E85 is not the magic bullet, but instead blends over E10 will be more effective in expanding ethanol use as long as there are older traditional vehicles on the road. To further the fuel use in the long term, Marathon envisions getting more flex fuel cars on the road and increasing use of E85 fueling.
Murphy Oil has worldwide activities including retail facilities in the US. They are a low cost operator, and while a buyer of gasoline, they would like to expand ethanol use as it is lower cost than gasoline. They own an ethanol plant and Virginia resources appear to include retail stations in Bristol and Hampton Roads.