UPDATE 1-Marathon Petroleum joins plan to transport Utica oil

HOUSTON Oct 9 (Reuters) - Marathon Petroleum Corp and Harvest Pipeline Company said on Tuesday they have agreed to jointly build a truck-to-barge system on the Ohio River to transport crude oil produced in the Utica shale oil play to refineries for processing.

Marathon said the project will provide 24,000 barrels per day of truck-unloading capacity and a terminal that can load up to 50,000 barrels per day of oil onto barges at the Ohio River in Wellsville, Ohio.

Marathon will modify its existing Wellsville river terminal to handle the additional volume, and a new truck rack will be built on property leased by Harvest Pipeline next to the Marathon operation.

Marathon has two refineries near the play -- 78,000 bpd Canton, Ohio, and 233,000 bpd Catlettsburg, Kentucky. The Canton plant already processes 1,500 bpd of Utica crude and condensate after Marathon built a truck-loading facility that can handle up to 12,000 bpd and is expandable to 24,000 bpd.

The joint project is expected to be finished by the end of 2013, Marathon said.