Marathon Receives Approval to Proceed with Angola Block 31 Development Project

HOUSTON, Texas, July 28, 2008 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX News Network/ -- Marathon Oil Corporation (NYSE: MRO) announced today that its subsidiary, Marathon International Petroleum Angola Block 31 Limited, and its co-venturers have received approval from Sociedade Nacional de Combustiveis de Angola - Sonangol E.P. to proceed with the first deepwater oil development project on Angola Block 31, comprised of the Plutao, Saturno, Venus and Marte (PSVM) fields. Marathon's Board of Directors approved the project earlier this year.

PSVM will be the first of multiple developments anticipated in Block 31. Located in the northeast sector of the block, about 250 miles northwest of Luanda, Angola, in a water depth of approximately 6,500 feet, PSVM will utilize a floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel. Key contracts are ready to be awarded and construction work is expected to begin later this year. Peak gross production of about 150,000 barrels per day is targeted in 2012. A total of 48 production, gas and water injection plus infill wells are planned.

"The development of PSVM is an important step in advancing Angola as a new core area of operations for Marathon," said David E. Roberts, Jr., Marathon executive vice president of Upstream. "As the first in an anticipated series of deepwater development projects on Block 31, and potentially on Block 32, PSVM is part of Marathon's strong upstream portfolio of opportunities that form the basis for our defined production growth through 2012 and beyond, as we continue to convert Marathon's significant discovered resource base to proved reserves and production."

Since 2001, Marathon's deepwater exploration program in Angola has generated a total of 27 discoveries and three successful appraisal wells on Blocks 31 and 32. Marathon holds a 10 percent working interest in Block 31, along with the operator BP Exploration (Angola) Limited with 26.67 percent, Sonangol, E.P. with 20 percent, Esso Exploration and Production Angola (Block 31) Limited with 25 percent, Statoil Angola A.S. with 13.33 percent and TEPA (Block 31) Limited with 5 percent. Sonangol E.P. is the concessionaire.

Marathon is an integrated international energy company engaged in exploration and production; oil sands mining; integrated gas; and refining, marketing and transportation operations. Marathon has principal operations in the United States, Angola, Canada, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Indonesia, Ireland, Libya, Norway and the United Kingdom. Marathon is the fourth largest United States-based integrated oil company and the nation's fifth largest refiner. For more information, visit the Company's Web site at www.marathon.com.

This release contains forward-looking statements with respect to a deepwater oil development project including the timing and levels of production, and other potential developments in Angola. Some factors that could potentially affect these forward-looking statements include pricing, supply and demand for petroleum products, the amount of capital available for exploration and development, regulatory constraints, timing of commencing production from new wells, drilling rig availability, unforeseen hazards such as weather conditions, acts of war or terrorist acts and the governmental or military response thereto, and other geological, operating and economic considerations. Other potential developments in Angola may be further affected by the inability or delay in obtaining government and third-party approvals and permits. The foregoing factors (among others) could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward- looking statements. In accordance with the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Marathon Oil Corporation has included in its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2007, and subsequent Forms 10-Q and 8-K, cautionary language identifying other important factors, though not necessarily all such factors, that could cause future outcomes to differ materially from those set forth in the forward- looking statements.

Media Relations Contacts:
Lee Warren 713-296-4103
Paul Weeditz 713-296-3910

Investor Relations Contacts:
Howard Thill 713-296-4140
Chris Phillips 713-296-3213
Michol Ecklund 713-296-3919

SOURCE Marathon Oil Corporation