Earnings Labs

Marathon Petroleum Corporation (MPC)

Q4 2024 Earnings Call· Tue, Feb 4, 2025

$241.43

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the MPC Fourth Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. My name is Amanda and I will be your operator for today’s call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I would now turn the call over to Kristina Kazarian. Kristina, you may begin.

Kristina Kazarian

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

Welcome to Marathon Petroleum Corporation's fourth quarter 2024 earnings conference call. The slides that accompany this call can be found on our website at marathonpetroleum.com under the Investor tab. Joining me on the call today are Maryann Mannen, CEO; John Quaid, CFO and other members of the MPC and MPLX executive team. We invite you to read the Safe Harbor statements on Slide 2. We will be making forward-looking statements today. Actual results may differ. Factors that cause actual results to differ are there as well as in our filings with the SEC. I wanted to quickly highlight our new segment reporting, which includes a renewable diesel segment. We believe this expanded level of reporting will enhance our comparability with our peers and provide you with more insight into our financial performance and capital allocation decisions. Previously, the results of the renewable diesel business were included in our refining and marketing segment. For your reference, slides 24 and 25 provide illustrations of this reporting change. And we have provided recast historical financials in our investor packet available on our website. With that, I will turn the call over to Maryann.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open

Thanks, Kristina, and good morning. Let me take a moment to highlight a few elements of our performance that were most relevant to our results. In 2024, we executed on our strategic commitments. First and foremost, we achieved our lowest company-wide OSHA recordable injury rate and strongest environmental performance in the last five years, demonstrating our commitment to safety and reliability. Over the full year, we delivered refining and marketing segment with adjusted EBITDA per barrel of $5.33. Our commitment to operational excellence, commercial performance, and peer-leading profitability per barrel in each of the regions in which we operate drove our strong results, with refining utilization of 92% and commercial capture of 99%. Our midstream segment, which is where we report MPLX's results, grew adjusted EBITDA by 6% year-over-year. In 2024, MPLX increased its quarterly distribution by 12.5%, driving an annualized cash distribution to MPC of $2.5 billion. This was the third consecutive year of distribution growth of 10% or greater. This was the fourth consecutive year of MPLX generating mid-single-digit adjusted EBITDA growth. Since 2021, we've grown adjusted EBITDA at a compound annual rate of 7%. Our full year net cash from operations was $8.7 billion. This enabled peer-leading capital return of $10.2 billion and a 23% capital return yield for our shareholders in a business where there is significant value in the ability to return capital to shareholders. The global macro environment continues to deliver refined product demand growth, and we expect 2025 will be another year of record refined product demand. In our domestic and export businesses, we have seen steady year-over-year demand for gasoline and diesel and growth in demand for jet fuel. Fourth quarter refining margins exhibited their typical season weakness. We expect margins will improve in the second half of this year as announced…

John Quaid

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

Thanks, Maryann. Moving to the fourth quarter and full-year highlights, slide 14 provides a summary of our financial results. This morning, we reported adjusted earnings per share of $0.77 for the fourth quarter and $9.51 for the full year. Adjusted EBITDA was approximately $2.1 billion for the quarter and $11.3 billion for the year. Refining & marketing segment adjusted EBITDA per barrel was $2.03 for the quarter and $5.33 for the year. Cash flow from operations, excluding working capital changes, was $1.7 billion for the quarter and nearly $8.2 billion for the year. And during the quarter, we returned $292 million to shareholders through dividends and repurchased nearly $1.3 billion of our shares. Slide 15 shows the sequential change in adjusted EBITDA from third to fourth quarter 2024 and the reconciliation between net income and adjusted EBITDA for the quarter. Adjusted EBITDA was lower sequentially by approximately $400 million driven by decreased results in our refining and marketing segment, slightly offset by improved results for our midstream and renewable diesel segments. The tax rate for the quarter was 12%, largely reflecting the earnings mix between our R&M and midstream businesses. Moving to our refining and marketing segment results for the fourth quarter on slide 16, lower crack spreads, mainly in the Mid-Con region, were the primary driver for lower R&M margins in the fourth quarter. Our refineries ran at 94% utilization, processing nearly 2.8 million barrels of crude per day, and refining operating costs were $5.26 per barrel in the fourth quarter. Turning to slide 17, solid commercial execution, as well as typical seasonal tailwinds, drove fourth quarter capture of 119%. We leveraged the scale of our fully integrated system in all three regions to capture margin opportunities across our entire value chain, from feedstocks to products. We are committed…

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open

Thanks, John. We are unwavering in our commitment to safe and reliable operations. Operational excellence, commercial execution, and our cost competitiveness yield sustainable structural benefits and position us to deliver peer-leading financial performance in each of the regions in which we operate. To deliver this, we will optimize our portfolio to deliver outperformance now and in the future. We'll leverage our value chain advantages and ensure the competitiveness of our assets while we continue to invest in our people. Our execution of these commitments position us to deliver the strongest through-cycle cash generation. Durable midstream growth is expected to deliver cash flow uplift and expected to deliver distribution increase going forward, a differentiator from our peers. Investing capital where we believe there are attractive returns will enhance our competitiveness now and in the future. We are committed to leading in capital allocation and will return excess capital through share repurchases. MPC is positioned to create exceptional value through peer-leading performance, execution of our strategic commitments, and its compelling value proposition. Let me turn the call back over to Kristina.

Kristina Kazarian

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

Thanks, Maryann. As we open the call for your questions, as a courtesy to all participants, we ask that you limit yourself to one question and a follow-up. If time permits, we will reprompt for additional questions. We will now open the call to questions.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. We will now begin the question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions]. Our first question comes from Neil Mehta with Goldman Sachs. Your line is open.

Neil Mehta

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open

Yes, thanks, Maryann and team. I guess the first question is just on the refining side. There was a $543 million positive capture impact in the quarter, 119% capture. I'm curious, how much of that was seasonal? Typically, 4Q, you tend to capture well versus commercial. Anything you can do to kind of unpack it, either regionally or in terms of the underlying drivers of that capture beat?

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open

Yes, thanks, Neil. Good morning again. So, look, as you know, and you look back over our last several fourth quarters over the past few years, our fourth quarter tends to be one of the strongest quarters. I think if you look at it over the last several years, we've averaged in a range of about 115, 116. In general, as you know, when we look at capture, there are clearly things that we don't have control over, and then there are the things that we do have control over. As we've been sharing, our objective is to approach 100%. This year, on average, we reached 99 in the Refining & Marketing opportunity there. So clearly some things that we believe have been structural in the work that we've been doing, we've been sharing over the last couple of quarters, and obviously some of those that have just fourth quarter normal activity. But I'm going to pass it to Rick, because I think he's got a few things that he'll give you some specifics on.

Rick Hessling

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open

Yes, hi, Neil. Let me start by saying thank you for calling this out. This is obviously a significant focus for us, and the team executed extremely well in the fourth quarter. So just a couple of nuggets for you. On the export side, Neil, we've been stating quarter after quarter that we're leaning into our export strategy, and the fourth quarter was a great example of that. Our assets ran extremely well across the board, and we were able to lean into our export strategy and set records on volume and margin. So that's a piece of the puzzle, Neil. And then secondly, an area that we don't speak much of is asphalt. But I will say we had great execution on the asphalt front, allowing us to take advantage of improved asphalt spreads and execute our strategies driven by strong asphalt retail sales. So those are just a couple of nuggets, Neil. There's many more, but I'll just leave you with those two.

Neil Mehta

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open

Thank you, Rick. And the follow-up is just on MPLX and the wellhead-to-water strategy. The mid-teens returns that you're targeting on this, can you talk a little bit about some of the underlying assumptions? And is it fair to say that even though capital is coming in a little higher at the midstream side of the business, given the framework that you laid out here, where the buyback is coming from the refining and renewable diesel business, higher MPLX spend won't impact the outlook for your ability to return capital?

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open

Yes, Neil, certainly. Let me try to answer those questions for you. So first and foremost, when we think about this NGL wellhead-to-water strategy, you're right, we do expect mid-teens returns. You may know that, over the last several quarters, we have been talking about the opportunity set, but frankly, we've been looking at this project for a period of time. So, underlying assumptions with respect to overall capital that we need to spend, timing of that, markets that we will serve, costs to get implemented, are all things that we have considered and evaluated to be sure that when we look at this project, that we're confident in these mid-single-digit returns. I think the next project, sorry, question that you asked was really about capital and whether or not the capital that we would be spending in MPLX has implications for MPC. So the answer to that is no. As you know, MPLX has really solid balance sheet flexibility. One, when you look at the debt-to-debt ratio, we've talked about our ability to be kind of in the range plus or minus four times. We're somewhere in a range of three, so we absolutely have balance sheet flexibility there. Really, all of that $2.5 billion multi-year capital in MPLX is largely MPLX. There's a $70 million piece that is MPC. And then the last part of that is, as we continue to grow that MPLX distribution, you've heard me talk about the 12.5% increase. That's a $2.5 billion distribution to MPC. It covers the 2025 MPC dividend and the 2025 capital that we just announced of 1.25, therefore giving MPC the flexibility to return capital via share buyback. So balance sheet flexibility in MPLX will support the growth of those MPLX projects. Hope that gets you.

Neil Mehta

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open

Very clear. Thanks, Maryann.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Goldman Sachs. Your line is open

You are welcome.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Douglas Leggate with Wolfe Research. Your line is open.

Douglas Leggate

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open

Thank you. Good morning, everyone. Good morning, Maryann. Fantastic result in refining despite breakeven. We actually see that bullish, so well done. My question is, I hate to ask the obvious one, but we've got a 30-day delay now potentially on, I don't know if it's posturing or not, but the tariff situation, you guys are obviously a large consumer of heavy barrels. My question is, what would be your -- how are you planning for the contingency? What would the impact be? I'm thinking specifically about how does your plant adapt to a different diet of crude if you had to? Frame it for us in whatever way you like, but we're obviously all trying to struggle with what it would actually mean if the tariffs were in fact introduced?

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open

Yes, good morning, Doug. Thanks for your question. It's interesting. Studying tariffs has been at the top of the list of things that we've been doing among many others, like running the business, right? So when we think about the impact of tariffs, one, if they were to be imposed or not, still a variable question. We've got a highly integrated system and we've got a lot of optionality and we'll use that optionality. Having said that, as you state, we do process a significant amount of heavy crude and therefore we think it's likely, if tariffs were to be put in place in 30-plus days or not, that we would see cost increases. We believe that the majority of that will ultimately be borne by the producer and then, frankly, to a lesser extent, the consumer. We, MPC, will use our integrated system, our commercial excellence, our operational performance to really minimize the best that we can, the margin impact to our financial results. That's our goal and we'll continue to evaluate. We're working with the administration. We're working with agencies, as well as the trade associations to be sure that the right people understand the implications of these decisions. But with that, let me pass it to Rick and he can give you a little more color on our diet.

Rick Hessling

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open

Yes, Doug, a very timely question as we have run scenario planning for every facility and market that we have coast-to-coast. So we're well-versed in this, as you might expect. And Maryann hit it well when she touched on our integrated system, our knowledge, our commercial performance. We believe we're in as good or better shape than anyone in the industry to absorb a tariff if it were to ever get put into place. And maybe a good example of that that I would want to unpack for you is in the Mid-Con, we have worked tirelessly for a long time on our logistics capability and connectivity. So many of our refineries in our Mid-Con region, we could look to pivot to alternative crudes because of our logistics capabilities and we're quite unique that way and I would give you crudes to think of such as Bakken, Rockies, Utica, Marcellus as a few. So I want to leave you with every region's different, every refinery is different, but we believe that we have done the scenario planning to make this as least painful as possible and, in fact, we believe at the end of the day in most regions, if not all, that we operate in, we'll have a competitive advantage against others who are running significant amounts of Canadian grades.

Douglas Leggate

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open

Rick, I appreciate a detailed answer from both of you. I wonder if I could just do a quick part B on that. If you did displace heavy with a Bakken or similar crude, would that require utilization reduction?

Rick Hessling

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open

It may shift yields more than anything, Doug, and it could potentially impact utilization. However, I would lean you, maybe ask you to, as you look at yesterday as it played out, the market was quickly sending signals that it would quickly respond and absorb a lot of the indicators that would continue to make potentially a heavy barrel economic to run. As Maryann said, we do believe the producer will bear a large part of the impact. So I would say a light switch within our system we believe would have minimal impact.

Douglas Leggate

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open

Thank you. Maryann, I've got a very quick follow-up, which is, I wanted to pick on one of your comments at the end of your prepared remarks. We will optimize our portfolio. I wonder if you could care to elaborate on what that means? I'll leave it there. Thank you.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open

Yes, certainly, Doug. You know, for the last several years, one of our strategic pillars is to ensure the competitiveness of all of our assets. That has been in place historically and will continue to be in place. We need to be sure that every one of our assets is delivering the cash flow that we expect and is part of our long-term scenario for how we will operate in the future. So we'll continue to look at that all the time.

Douglas Leggate

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open

Thank you so much, guys.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Wolfe Research. Your line is open

You're welcome, Doug. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Manav Gupta with UBS. Your line is open.

Manav Gupta

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open

Hey, Maryann. I wanted to congratulate you. I think when you took over the CEO, one of your key goals was that to fully fund the dividend and CapEx at MPC through MPLX. And our model got you there, but we got you there more in '26 and '27. We didn't have you getting there in 2025. So congratulations on that. My question here is we think about MPCs buybacks as funded by RD and refining with MPLX funding the dividend and CapEx, but the projects that you announce today could put you on a distribution growth path of 12% for four or five years. So starting 2026, is it possible that MPLX distribution is not only funding the CapEx, the dividend, but also possible buybacks at MPC?

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open

Thank you, Manav. So, we have been trying to demonstrate that our cash flows being generated at MPLX are durable and that we can put together capital as well as small M&A bolt-on that can support mid-single-digit growth for a period of time. And hopefully today the announcement of our NGL strategy wellhead-to-water value chain is yet another example of that in addition to some of the investments that we made in 2024. Expansion of BANGL as an example, our summit acquisition in the Utica and Wing to Webster. That 12.5 distribution increase that we announced in November of 2024, we also said we thought had the ability to be sustaining in similar nature for the next several years. So as we continue to grow, we certainly believe that distribution coming back to MPC gives us flexibility for peer-leading capital allocation. We think it's a differentiator, and certainly we believe that that growing distribution to MPC will allow us to increase our share repurchase in the future.

Manav Gupta

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open

Perfect. My quick follow-up is a little bit on the West Coast. Another refinery is probably going to go down at the year-end. There are some reports of an unplanned refinery downtime also in the first half now. So just trying to understand from your perspective the dynamics on the West Coast, understanding that the regulatory environment may not be the best, but from the perspective of supply and demand, the region might still work for you?

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open

Yes, actually I think you said it well. As you know, we have made some commitments in investments. I talked about one of them here on the call this morning for our Los Angeles asset. One, we think it is a really efficiency capital investment. We also think, obviously, it meets the required NOx reduction emission requirements going forward and gives us incremental efficiency and profitability, particularly in a low-carbon environment. Certainly, we understand the challenges of doing business in this environment. You know this well. I mean, we have evaluated our ability to participate in this region for many, many years, hence the decision that we made back in 2020 to close Martinez as a fossil fuel refinery and then in early in '21, the decision to convert it to renewable diesel. We're working closely with the agencies in the state to ensure that we understand, and in similar fashion as I mentioned earlier, through our trade associations, also really trying to understand and frankly influence via help so that those making the regulatory decisions and the legislative decisions in the state have the facts that they need to make good decisions. We continue to believe our asset on the West Coast is one of the most competitive, particularly when you look at the integrated nature of it, the MPLX, as well as its ability to process various crudes, et cetera. So, yes, we continue to believe in the long-term viability of that asset.

Manav Gupta

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open

Thank you. I'll turn it over.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · UBS. Your line is open

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Paul Cheng with Scotiabank. Your line is open.

Paul Cheng

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

Hey, team. Good morning. Maryann and Rick, this year, I think you guys think that your turnaround cost is about $1.4 billion similar to last year, which is quite high. So trying to understand that, as for the cycle, what's considered as a normal turnaround cost for you guys? Is $1.4 billion the new normal or this is considered somewhat of a high year also?

John Quaid

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

Hey, good morning, Paul. It's John. I'll maybe start with that, and then we'll see what follow-ups you might have. Certainly, like you said, we're looking at $1.4 for this year, similar to last year's. If you look back over the last several years, it gets a little bit hard to see a run rate, right? You would have had COVID, where we really would have slowed down. That would have pushed some turnarounds to the right, if you will, into future years. We also continue to invest in our assets and change kind of the capacity of what we have. I mean, interestingly, if you go back pre-COVID and post either shutting down or converting refineries, we're almost back to the same or more capacity than we were previously. So I think all of those things are driving that number. And again, and Tim and the team can speak to this, right? Those are scheduled outages that we have on a cycle that we're managing to, that we need to get done. I think, though, I was trying to give you some factors, though, that are maybe driving the $1.4 we're seeing for this year.

Paul Cheng

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

Hey, John, thank you for that. How about -- what, consider from internally, you guys' standpoint will be more of a normal cycle, say average for the cycle?

John Quaid

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

Yes, Paul, I don't know if it's helpful to get into. There's lots of things that can move that on the asset portfolio, where we are in the schedule. I think we've even kind of stepped into here just recently giving you the number for the year. We used to just kind of give you the number by quarter. So I think if you're okay with it, we might just stick with what we're looking at for this year, and then we'll speak to it as the year progresses.

Paul Cheng

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

Okay. The second question, I want to go back into the margin capture. California actually has done really well. Yes, I mean, we stayed and took out renewables, so that improved or that helped the margin, but still it's very good. Typically, I think for the built-in branding, California doesn't really benefit that much. So trying to understand that, I think Rick mentioned about export and some of the -- is there any one-off item in California for this quarter, we should be aware, or is there any other factor that you can point us to why they seem to be performing really well?

John Quaid

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

Hey, Paul, it's John. I'll start and maybe then turn it over to Rick. I think one of the things we would call out, really, I'll start with Tim and his team and how we ran the facilities in the quarter, strong utilization, really positioning us to then turn to Rick and his team to take that production to market across our really competitive value chain. So at a high, high level, I think that's what you're seeing, and maybe I'll turn it over to Rick for any other details.

Rick Hessling

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

Yes, Paul, maybe just to address the export comment, when I referenced our exports earlier, think of that as predominantly U.S. Gulf Coast. It's not that there weren't some exports going out of the West Coast, but there were minimal in terms of our overall portfolio. The only item that I would add to John's commentary is, we often talk fully integrated value chain and our advantages in California, and in-house, we talk refinery to retail, and we are one of the few out there that takes the value chain all the way to the end consumer, and that is a value driver that I think that we believe is showing up in capture that others aren't able to capture. So we see it as a differentiator, Paul.

Paul Cheng

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

Okay. Very good. Thank you.

Rick Hessling

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

You're welcome. Thank you, Paul.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Scotiabank. Your line is open

Thank you, Paul.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Roger Read with Wells Fargo. Your line is open.

Roger Read

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open

Yes, thank you. Good morning.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open

Morning, Roger.

Roger Read

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open

Good morning, Maryann. To come back to your comments on the macro and that demand may exceed capacity as we see more closures within the industry. What's your view here looking at 2'5 in terms of demand as we think about gasoline, jet fuel, and then diesel, particularly we finally got a plus 50 on the ISM manufacturing for this past month?

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open

, : And then there's probably about 800,000 barrels a day that we think will be coming offline, one of them we know happening in the first quarter, another one happening in the fourth quarter, which probably won't have much impact in 2025, and then, there's a few in, I think one in Germany, a couple in Scotland, Europe, and then there's always really what happens with respect to China. So back half of the year, when we look at 2025, we think we should see improvement. We should see margins expanding. Frankly, we're beginning to see a little bit of that as seasonal unwind begins to occur. In our system, gasoline year-over-year has been fairly steady, diesel up slightly, and to your point, we've actually seen jet demand growth, which is what you would expect as well. So overall, we remain constructive long term. I think the back half of 2025 could look better. China always an interesting dynamic to the extent that's better than we anticipate could be an accelerator. Obviously, some of the decisions that are being debated here with China would mute that, and we'll have to wait and see what happens there. So I think that's how I would characterize it, Roger.

Roger Read

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open

Appreciate that. And then maybe as an unrelated follow-up, obviously a lot of things going on with the Trump administration on the tariffs and all, but there's also in the executive orders a lot of things to roll back, a lot of let's call it pro-sustainable energy or clean energy as it was advertised. What are some of the key things you're watching on that, you know, progress that may or may not be made during 2025?

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open

Yes, Roger, here's what I would say. When we look at our sustainability initiatives, you look at Scope 1, Scope 2, and even our Scope 3 absolute. We remain committed to those. And frankly, last year we actually increased our target because we were making progress, particularly on methane as an example. So we'll continue to remain focused on delivering Scope 1, Scope 2. We'll evaluate what opportunities we have as we look at Scope 3. The whole concept around renewable diesel, you heard me mention perhaps in my remarks that our focus in the short term is limiting the amount of capital that we're putting to work in renewable diesel. We'll certainly do what we need to ensure the sustainability and the reliability of that asset came up to nameplate capacity in the fourth quarter, as we said, and we believe that as we look at 2025, that asset will be profitable, but again, as we look at, we'll watch the variables just really in the whole renewable space. That is certainly one that we'll be looking at carefully as well. I'm going to pass to Jim and see if there is anything that Jim feels is, that I've missed in our...

James Wilkins

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open

Roger, I agree with what Maryann said. I think we're going to remain steadfast, kind of the middle of the fairway, on our sustainability goals and metrics and kind of watch some of the variables.

Roger Read

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open

Great. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Wells Fargo. Your line is open

You're welcome, Roger. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Jason Gabelman with TD Cowen. Your line is open.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · TD Cowen. Your line is open

Hey, Jason. Morning.

Jason Gabelman

Analyst · TD Cowen. Your line is open

Thanks for taking my question. Hey. The first one on the buyback and the ability to generate cash beyond cash from ops at the parent company, I think you're going to be refinancing $750 million of debt at the parent. So should we think about that being available for use towards buybacks? And then any opportunity for buyback -- sorry, for dropdowns from the parent down to the MLT? Is that still an arrow in your quiver that you could use?

John Quaid

Analyst · TD Cowen. Your line is open

Hey, morning, Jason. It's John. Yes, you're spot on the cash balance and that maturity, right? That was one that matured in September. We decided to pay it off and mention at that time we'll be looking to refinance that at the right time, right? So you've got $750 million of cash that's coming back onto the balance sheet that's available for allocation. I'll let Maryann speak to the drops.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · TD Cowen. Your line is open

Yes, Jason, with respect to the drop, there is a few assets that sit on the MPC side that we believe ultimately belong rightfully so in the midstream business. When we, or if we consider these drops, in the past they have certainly not been a priority for several reasons that you know well, but even when we consider these drops, we want to be sure that we're clear these drops would not count, if you will, with respect to our commitment for MPLX to have mid-single-digit growth. This, EBITDA, currently in the system we would make that drop to be sure that the assets are positioned properly in the business. Having said that, that cash on the MPC side could certainly be used to continue to buy back stock in particular when we look at the valuation today versus our long-term opportunity set and the value creation that we think we can generate in MPC. That cash could be put to good use on the MPC side but would not count, we would not do that. It would not count against MPLX's mid-single-digit growth objective because that, EBITDA, is already in our system. Hope that helps.

Jason Gabelman

Analyst · TD Cowen. Your line is open

Yes, got it. Understood. Do you have an estimate for the amount of EBITDA that could potentially be dropped down?

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · TD Cowen. Your line is open

Jason, when we, if and when we do a drop, we'll be sure that we give you good clarity so you understand how not to include that in the growth. But we'll share that with you when the time comes.

Jason Gabelman

Analyst · TD Cowen. Your line is open

All right, great. My follow-up is just a quick one. I noticed in the press release there wasn't a quarter-to-date buyback figure for 1Q, '25. I think that's the first time you've excluded that figure in the press release for a handful of quarters, if not two years. Do you have that figure handy, and was there a reason that you decided to exclude it this quarter?

John Quaid

Analyst · TD Cowen. Your line is open

Hey, Jason, it's John. Let me try and answer that for you, and maybe, too. It's kind of where you were going, a little bit of history. Certainly, if you go back in time, post the Speedway sale, post the significant change in margins, we were returning a significant amount of capital and really wanted to lean in and share with you all what that first month of the quarter looked like as we've kind of approached a more normalized balance sheet. Even as we continued to provide that, you've also heard us say, hey, one month isn't really indicative of what the repurchases might be for the entire quarter. So I think just as we're pivoting now, we decided maybe now's the time that that number maybe isn't as useful as it had been in the past. So hopefully that you can understand kind of our change in view there.

Jason Gabelman

Analyst · TD Cowen. Your line is open

Yep, that's great. Thanks for explaining that.

Jason Gabelman

Analyst · TD Cowen. Your line is open

Thanks, Jason.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from John Royall with JP Morgan. Your line is open.

John Royall

Analyst · JP Morgan. Your line is open

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking my question. So my first question's on 2024 MPC level CapEx. The $1.52 billion for '24 came in a bit above the original $1.25 billion guide. And it looks in particular like a big 4Q. I was just hoping you could help us bridge the difference between the guide from a year ago and where you ended up?

John Quaid

Analyst · JP Morgan. Your line is open

Hey, morning, John. It's John. Let me try and give you a little bit more color there. Really, I think what we saw were a couple things. And I'll start with you've heard Rick talk about how we're going to market in our fully integrated value chain. And frankly, we saw some really strong opportunities to invest some capital to drive cash flow in the marketing side of our business. That was probably the majority or a larger portion of what drove that. But we also had some opportunities across the refining base where we saw some projects that we could put money to. So I just give you that as some color where, again, we saw those opportunities and wanted to take advantage of them as we continue to look to drive cash flow growth of the refining and marketing business.

John Royall

Analyst · JP Morgan. Your line is open

Okay, thank you. And then my next question is on renewable diesel margins. There's a lot of uncertainty in the regulatory environment right now. I was just hoping for your thoughts on RD margins early in 2025 and how you think the 45Z could ultimately play out?

Rick Hessling

Analyst · JP Morgan. Your line is open

Yes. Hi, John. This is Rick. So with Martinez fully online, as we stated earlier, we continue to expect EBITDA contribution going forward. As you saw in the release, we were positive $28 million in fourth quarter. So, we really have a good, stable environment, and we have a great team executing our feedstocks and our product distribution. With that being said, as you said, there remains a lot of uncertainty in this space, and it continues to evolve, right? When you think of our new administration, how does 45Z get implemented or does it and at what pace? And then when you have the BTC expiry, I would tell you I would not make a prediction, but here's what I would say. We will control what we can control, and from a feedstock optimization perspective, we're procuring advantage feedstocks with low CIs and then placing them as you would certainly expect us to in the highest margin markets possible. So won't pretend to say we have a crystal ball in the future. I think we'll watch this closely, but we feel very good about our asset base and our execution.

John Royall

Analyst · JP Morgan. Your line is open

Thank you very much.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · JP Morgan. Your line is open

You're welcome, John. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our next question comes from Theresa Chen with Barclays. Your line is open.

Theresa Chen

Analyst · Barclays. Your line is open

Hi. Can you talk about how much LPG export currently exists within your system just off of your refining assets in the Gulf Coast and maybe the West Coast? And following the FID of the NGL infrastructure projects and MPC's role in marketing those LPGs, what kind of economic uplift would you expect this to bring to MPC either in terms of capture or EBITDA?

Rick Hessling

Analyst · Barclays. Your line is open

Hi, Teresa. It's Rick. Thank you for the question. So when we look at our current footprint, what I'll do without giving you specific numbers is tell you that our footprint and our ability to export once the dock is fully commissioned and we're up and running will be significant. We will attack global buyers, and we will go to market in a diversified approach, and what I mean by that is we'll go term. We'll go spot, a percentage term, a percentage spot, a percentage FOB versus delivered, and then from an EBITDA perspective, we have a variety of ranges. It depends on what the market is at that point in time, but we are bullish in this environment with the Chinese PDH units and the global worldwide demand. I would say we have a very optimistic view forward.

Theresa Chen

Analyst · Barclays. Your line is open

Got it, and as a quick follow-up, is MPC also marketing ONEOK's portion of the terminal facility, the volumes coming out of the terminal facility, or is it just MPLX's 50% interest?

Rick Hessling

Analyst · Barclays. Your line is open

MPC is just marketing the 50% of the dock. ONEOK will be marketing their own barrels.

Theresa Chen

Analyst · Barclays. Your line is open

Thank you.

Rick Hessling

Analyst · Barclays. Your line is open

Thank you, Teresa.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Barclays. Your line is open

Thank you, Teresa.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. Our last question will come from Matthew Blair with Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open.

Matthew Blair

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

Great. Thank you for the questions, and congrats on the strong results.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

Thanks Matt.

Matthew Blair

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

You mentioned record product exports, and we are seeing things like industrial production improve in several Latin American countries with, I guess, the exception of Mexico. My question is, could you contrast demand trends in the U.S. versus your overseas market? And if you have any sort of a split between gasoline and diesel, that would be helpful, too. Thanks.

Rick Hessling

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

Yes, Matt, so what I would tell you is where we're seeing significant demand signals is all things Latin America and Europe. Those are the biggest signals we're seeing. Demand growth is more robust than we have seen in a while, and then when you look at where we are from a split perspective, gas versus diesel. I will tell you diesel's been pretty steady, but we are seeing a significant uplift in gas export demand.

Matthew Blair

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

Sounds good, and then turning back to the renewable diesel segment, with the 45Z coming in, does this change anything in regards to your RD feedstocks, and I guess in particular, are you looking to run less vegetable oils going forward? And do you run any imported UCO? And if so, would you scale that back going forward?

Rick Hessling

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

So, great question. I would tell you, so what we're looking to do is maximize low-CI stocks, feedstocks, and with that, that plays right into the 45Z on what would be the most maximum feedstock we could run and get credit for and apply towards the 45Z. So, I think that's the best way to share that, Matt.

Matthew Blair

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

Sounds good. Thank you.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

Matt, it's Maryann. Just maybe one other comment, if I could, when we think about Martinez as well. As I mentioned earlier, we brought the asset to full nameplate capacity in the fourth quarter. That's $48,000 a day. We share that now with Neste. One of the advantages of being at full nameplate is our ability to operate the PTU. And you know, part of the strategic rationale with our developing this long-term relationship with Neste, in particular for Martinez, was to be able to optimize the feedstock. And so we think that'll be a value driver as well into 2025 as we're now able to look at given the amount of volume that's in place, but be able to look at where those opportunities exist through the commercial lens in addition to the incentives that are obviously still critical for profitability. Hope that addresses your question, Matt.

Matthew Blair

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

It does. Thank you.

Maryann Mannen

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

You're welcome.

Kristina Kazarian

Analyst · Tudor Pickering Holt. Your line is open

All right, with that, thank you for your interest in Marathon Petroleum Corporation. Should you have more questions or want clarification on topics discussed this morning, please contact us, and our team will be available to take your calls. Thank you for joining us today.

Operator

Operator

That concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may disconnect at this time.