A US oil company cut nearly 2,000 jobs – and reaped $2.1bn in pandemic benefits

Marathon Petroleum received more tax benefits than any other US oil company while also cutting about 9% of its workforce

One morning in September, word of layoffs began to spread quickly through Marathon Petroleum's refinery in the small industrial community of Garyville, Louisiana.

Seven months into the pandemic, workers at the oil refining plant thought they would be spared the fate of their colleagues at other facilities, who had already been jettisoned into a daunting job market.