BATON ROUGE, LA–Marathon Petroleum Corp. isnearing the next step forward in its $2.2 billion to $2.5 billionpotential upgrade to the Garyville refinery. Atthe end of April, the local company will file permit applicationsfor the project with Louisiana's Department of EnvironmentalQuality. Following feasibility studies, MarathonPetroleum is expected to make a decision on the project by thestart of 2015.

“As part of the ongoing feasibility study, Marathon Petroleum ispleased to be taking this next step of submitting the permitapplications for the Residual Oil Upgrade Expansion at ourGaryville facility,” said Rich Bedell, thecompany's senior vice president for Refining, in a statement. “Wehave been diligently working with the state and local officialsconcerning the various milestones for a project of this size.

The possible Residual Oil Upgrade Expansionwould allow Marathon Petroleum to convert heavy residual oil into1.2 million gallons per day of ultra low-sulfur diesel.