Hess to sell retail business to Marathon Petroleum

US-based integrated oil company Hess has signed a $2.6bn agreement to sell its retail business to Marathon Petroleum subsidiary Speedway.

The deal includes all of Hess’ retail locations, transport operations and shipper history on various pipelines, including around 40,000 barrels a day on the Colonial Pipeline.

Hess CEO John B Hess said that sale of the company’s retail business marks the culmination of strategic transformation into a pure-play exploration and production company.

Marathon president and CEO Gary R Heminger said that the acquisition will significantly expand Speedway’s retail presence from nine to 23 states in the East Coast and Southeast.

“Our strategy is focused on growing higher-valued, stable cash flow businesses, and this transaction fully supports that objective,” he added.

“With this significant geographic expansion, we will be able to further leverage our integrated refining and transportation logistics operations, providing an outlet for an incremental 200,000 bpd of assured sales from our refining system.”

Speedway president Tony Kenney said: “This will be a significant acquisition for Speedway, as we will become the largest company owned and operated convenience store chain in the nation based upon revenue and the second-largest by store count.”

The transaction is estimated to close in the third quarter.