Washington (Platts)--1Aug2007

Marathon Petroleum has agreed to pay a $1 million civil penalty to settle
charges that it attempted to manipulate the crude oil market, the US
Commodities Futures Trading Commission said Wednesday.

     The CFTC charged Marathon with "attempting to manipulate a price" of spot
cash West Texas Intermediate crude delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma, on November
26, 2003, by attempting to influence downward the Platts market assessment for
spot cash WTI for that day. 

     The August 1 order requires, among other things, that Marathon pay a
$1 million civil monetary penalty. 

     "West Texas Intermediate crude oil prices have an enormous impact on the
daily lives of American citizens," said Gregory Mocek, the CFTC's director of
enforcement, in a statement. "The CFTC continues to  aggressively ferret out
illegal conduct in the energy sector. As the guardian of the nation's
commodity markets, this case is yet another signal to the markets that we hold
all companies accountable for their trading activities." 

		--Cathy Landry, cathy_landry@platts.com