Annually

Marathon Oil Corp. last week said it signed an agreement with BP Energy Co. to receive 58 Bcf of natural gas annually in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a minimum term of five years beginning in mid-2005.

Marathon Oil Corp. said Tuesday it signed an agreement with BP Energy Co. to receive 58 Bcf of natural gas annually in the form of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a minimum term of five years beginning in mid-2005.

Houston-based Shell Oil Co. plans to cut up to 800 information technology (IT) positions in the United States in an effort to save about $850 million annually beginning in 2008. The reductions, part of Shell’s “IT Vision” plan, will be made through attrition, reduced number of contractors, employee reassignments and voluntary severance packages, and are expected to be completed by 2006. Shell also will outsource more work to India and Malaysia. Shell currently has about 9,000 IT staff worldwide, including 2,200 in the U.S. who are mostly based in Houston. In addition to the reductions, Shell also is reducing the number of computer programs and software applications it uses, according to Anne Kniesley, manager of corporate media relations. Currently, Shell has hundreds of IT contracts, but it plans to reduce the number to less than 20. Kniesley said the changes were “about reducing costs and improving quality.”

Houston-based Shell Oil Co. plans to cut up to 800 information technology (IT) positions in the United States in an effort to save about $850 million annually beginning in 2008.

Duke Energy Corp. shareholders last week approved a non-binding resolution calling for the annual election of board members. Initially opposed by the board of directors, CEO Paul Anderson said the vote will not be opposed.

A small university campus expects to save $1 million annually on its energy bill and satisfy 98% of its energy needs through a new high-efficiency, 1 MW cogeneration system that was underwritten with a $708,000 award from Sempra Energy’s Los Angeles-based Southern California Gas Co. utility. The rebate was part of SoCal’s state-authorized $54 million, four-year self-generation program.

The net benefit for all consumers if FERC’s proposed standard market design (SMD) is implemented is about $1 billion per year over the first six years it is in place after factoring in the estimated $760 million per year in regional transmission organization (RTO) costs, a new study issued by the Department of Energy (DOE) concludes.

The U.S. utility meter market is growing at a pace of about 3% ayear, rallied by innovative vendors who are winning market sharewith communication-enabled, low-priced meters that offset thesingle-phase residential meters, according to a new researchreport.

A study of 10 of the largest U.S. natural gas pipelines showsthey can expect to collectively derive a total of $42.5 millionannually in savings from Gas Research Institute technologies over afour-year period from 1997 to 2000, GRI said.