Historic Midland

MARATHON
OIL
COMPANY
❖
Frank Clark, a geologist hired by the
Ohio Oil Co. (Marathon),
and the man who convinced the
company to drill what turned out
to be the discovery well.
Marathon Oil Company got its start in 1887
by 14 independent oilmen who banded together
in Lima, Ohio to form a production company
called “The Ohio Oil Company”. Its headquarters
were moved to Findlay, Ohio in 1905
where it remained until 1990 when it moved
to Houston.
In 1962, the company was renamed
Marathon Oil Company to tie it more closely to
its brand-name motor fuel and products and to
reflect the fact that it had become a worldwide
oil company active in exploration, production,
refining, transportation and marketing.
Marathon employs over 7,000 people, not
including foreign and subsidiary employees,
and Marathon ranks among the top 20 U.S.-
based companies in terms of production volume.
Marathon in West Texas
and New Mexico
Marathon’s Mid-Continent Region office,
headquartered in Midland, manages its operations
in the Permian and San Juan Basins. The
Mid-Continent Region has responsibility for
52 operated and 38 outside-operated fields.
Company operations are located in 23 counties
throughout Southwest Texas and five
counties in New Mexico. Along with the
region office in Midland, field offices exist in
Iraan, Big Spring, Big Lake, and McCamey, as
well as Carlsbad, Hobbs and Farmington in
New Mexico.
Marathon has been going strong in the
Permian Basin ever since the discovery of the
Yates Field in 1926, when Frank Clark, a company
geologist, picked a spot west of Ira Yates’
red barn and said, “Drill here.” It was the fourth
on the Yates lease, the first three having been
dry. So significant was the Yates discovery that
more than 70 years after the initial discovery the
Oil & Gas Journal still ranks Yates as one of the
largest lower 48 oil fields in terms of estimated
remaining recoverable reserves. The Yates Field
was unitized in 1976, and has produced more
than 1.3 billion barrels of oil. However, as prolific
as the Yates Field is, it only accounts for
about 40 percent of Marathon’s production in
the Permian Basin.
Marathon was also one of the early players in
New Mexico, drilling near Hobbs in 1929 and
the South Eunice Field in 1931. By 1937, the
company had seven New Mexico locations, with
daily production of some 2,900 barrels of oil.
In 1962, Marathon was a principal player in
the discovery of the Indian Basin gas field in
Eddy County, and built the Indian Basin Gas
Plant in 1965, which, after being expanded
twice, now processes an average of 210 Mmcf/d.
The company has also maximized the Indian
Basin’s value by careful management of oil and
natural gas liquids production. Oil production
from the Indian Basin now stands at more than
104 ✦ HISTORIC MIDLAND