(Reuters) - U.S. oil refiner Marathon Petroleum Corp (NYSE:MPC) posted a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss on Monday, hours after it announced the sale of its Speedway gas stations to Japan's Seven & I (T:3382) for $21 billion, which is expected to ease the refiner's debt burden.
Shares of the company were up 7.5% premarket.
The Speedway sale, agreed at a price just a billion below what Seven & I reportedly rejected in March, is one of the biggest this year and may also ease shareholders' pressure on Marathon's management to improve its balance sheet.
Marathon Petroleum posted an adjusted net loss of $868 million for the three months ended June 30, compared with an adjusted net income of $1.15 billion, a year earlier.
Excluding items, the refiner posted a loss of $1.33 per share, much smaller than analysts' average estimate of a loss of $1.75.
The refiner said it will idle its Gallup and Martinez refineries indefinitely as coronavirus-led lockdown measures dampened demand for its products.
The Findlay, Ohio based refiner's total revenue and other income of $15.20 billion missed estimates of $18.89 billion.