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Land Stewardship and Biodiversity

Supporting Ecosystems
Marathon Oil strives to be a good steward of the land by mitigating environmental impact and promoting biodiversity.

Our Environmental Management Standard, which is governed by the Responsible Operations Management System (ROMS), requires a pre-site survey for wetlands, endangered species and historical sites. Depending on the situation, we do a tabletop or onsite survey to confirm that impacts to sensitive areas will be mitigated.

When we identify areas impacted by past operations, we restore the site. If a sensitive area is identified in the development plan, we first try to relocate our site if possible. If we aren’t able to, we work to get the necessary permits required to develop in the sensitive area and develop appropriate mitigations. Species of concern that have been identified in the areas where we operate are listed in the table below.

Species with Potential ImpactSpecies with Potential Impact
¹ Potential for direct impact to species through operations. May also include species with critical habitat in area of operations.
² Table includes fauna only. Impacts to floral species of concern are also directly managed through asset environmental teams.
³ In our Permian Basin asset, we signed three U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Candidate Conservation Agreements with Assurances (CCAA) to preserve habitats in our development areas for three key species: the lesser prairie chicken, the dune sagebrush lizard and the Texas Hornshell Mussel. These voluntary agreements help address conservation needs of these species by taking specific actions to remove or reduce adverse impacts and minimize Marathon Oil’s liability to regulatory action.

Before construction, we screen each site for endangered species and jurisdictional wetlands and streams and take mitigating actions as needed. Marathon Oil builds and maintains our facilities to minimize the potential for wildlife to access equipment stacks, vents or fluid impoundments. To help protect neighboring streams and wetlands, we implement erosion and sedimentation control systems and use spill prevention measures. We inspect and maintain our sites through routine inspections after significant storm events and repair the erosion and sedimentation control systems if necessary and as conditions allow.

We have legal, regulatory and contractual obligations to remove and dismantle assets and to restore land or seabed at the end of oil and gas production operations. For more information on our asset retirement obligation, please see page 78 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K.

Learn about our partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation here.

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