MARATHON OIL COMPANY

American petroleum company with a full range of operations from exploration and production to marketing and research; it became a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corp. (now USX Corp.) in 1981. Marathon Oil, founded in 1887 as the Ohio Oil Company, came under the control of the Standard Oil Trust in 1889. When the Standard Oil combine was broken up by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1911, the company again became independent, adopting the name of Marathon Oil Company in 1962. It operated mainly in North America, with additional production in Libya and Nigeria and additional refining and wholesaling in Europe. In 1976 its acquisition of Pan Ocean Oil Corporation brought mineral interests, chiefly in coal, fluorspar, and zinc.