GARYVILLE, LOUISIANA, Feb. 22, 2007-Marathon Oil Corporation’s (NYSE: MRO) projected $3.2 billion expansion project at its Garyville, La., refinery has reached a key milestone with the recent award of major contracts that are expected to create approximately 2,000 construction jobs benefiting the local and regional economy. A job fair designed to help fill these construction jobs is being planned for the spring of this year in St. John the Baptist Parish.

&#8220Marathon has carefully selected and will be working with top contractors and their local subcontractors to hire from the local and regional talent pool to the extent possible,” according to Rich Bedell, Marathon’s Louisiana Refining Division manager. &#8220We are working with these companies to plan a job fair this spring in St. John the Baptist Parish. We expect the job fair to attract many qualified candidates to the country’s largest refinery project.”

Fluor Corp. of Irving, Texas, hired as the project management firm for the expansion, will be recruiting workers at the job fair, along with Chicago Bridge & Iron Co., headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, and Baton Rouge, La.-based Shaw Stone & Webster. All three companies will be providing engineering and procurement services for the project.

Others companies participating in the job fair include Baton Rouge, La.-based Performance Contractors and Turner Industries for steel erection and mechanical work; Industrial Specialty Contractors and Excel Contractors for electrical and instrumentation work; Cajun Constructors Inc.; and James Construction Group for site work, pile driving and concrete foundations. Additional local contractors and suppliers are expected to be selected later this year as the project progresses.

These companies will be recruiting for candidates with a broad range of skill sets including electrical, mechanical, construction, welding, pipe fitting, concrete foundations, pile driving, carpentry, millwork and plant operations as well as general laborers and helpers. Representatives from River Parishes Louisiana Technical College in Reserve, La., will be on hand at the event to provide information on job training for the available openings. Details on the date, time and location of the job fair will be released in the near future.

&#8220We expect to utilize nearly 2,000 workers, with up to 4,000 at peak periods. This is in addition of approximately 200 permanent new full-time employees at the refinery and 50-75 new full-time contract employees,” Bedell said. Construction is scheduled to begin in mid-2007.

The project will add 180,000 barrels per day (bpd) of refining capacity at Garyville, boosting capacity to 425,000 bpd. It will also add between $40-50 million in sales and use taxes during project construction. An economic impact study done by Dr. James A. Richardson, alumni professor of Economics at Louisiana State University, indicates that millions of dollars in taxes will accrue to both the state and St. John the Baptist Parish from economic activity associated with the project and overall expansion of the refinery operations.

About Marathon

Marathon is the fourth-largest U.S.-based fully integrated international energy company engaged in exploration and production; integrated gas; and refining, marketing and transportation operations. The Company has exploration and production activities in the United States, the United Kingdom, Angola, Canada, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya and Norway. Marathon also is developing integrated gas projects that are linking stranded natural gas resources with key demand areas where domestic production is declining and demand is growing, particularly in North America. Marathon is the fifth largest refiner in the U.S. with 974,000 bpd of crude processing capacity in its seven-refinery system. The Company’s retail marketing system comprises approximately 5,700 locations in 17 states; nearly three-quarters are Marathon brand locations. Marathon serves the Midwest and Southeast as a petroleum products marketer with 87 light product and asphalt terminals and the Company owns, operates, leases or has an ownership interest in approximately 9,900 miles of pipeline.