Begin

The Interior Department’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) is reviewing an exploration plan by ConocoPhillips that if approved may allow the producer to begin drilling offshore Alaska in the Chukchi Sea in 2014.

Outgoing Anadarko Petroleum Corp. Executive Chairman Jim Hackett plans to begin attending Harvard Divinity School in the fall. Hackett, 59, who served as CEO of The Woodlands, TX-based operator until last May, long has been interested in learning to write, speak and teach about faith and leadership, which were key reasons he retired from the company, according to a spokesman. The Harvard University program offers four degree programs: master of theological studies, master of divinity, master of theology and doctor of theology. Hackett’s retirement is to take effect after Anadarko’s annual meeting in May (see Daily GPI, Feb. 20). He previously worked at Devon Energy Corp., as well as NGC Corp., Burlington Resources (acquired by Anadarko in 2006), and Amoco Oil Co. Hackett is a board member and adjunct professor at Rice University.

Maine Natural Gas (MNG) has signed a contract with three companies to begin construction of the 12-inch diameter steel pipeline backbone of its natural gas distribution system in Augusta, ME, the Iberdrola USA subsidiary said.

A joint venture (JV) of Battelle and Winner Global LLC expects to begin building its first unit in April to respond to a potential water shortage facing oil and natural gas companies that are engaged in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) activities in the Utica and Marcellus shales in Ohio and Pennsylvania.

The New York State Assembly’s passage of a bill calling for a two-year moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing (HVHF) in the state could divide the fragile bipartisan coalition that controls the Senate.

Consol Energy Inc. announced Friday that it would begin shifting its Utica Shale program in Noble County, OH, from exploration to development mode, after seeing encouraging results and data from its test wells and those of its competitors in the play.

Enterprise Products Partners LP has sold out capacity at its planned 1.65 billion pounds/year propane dehydrogenation (PDH), which is scheduled to begin operation during the third quarter of 2015. In anticipation of a continuing decrease in supplies of propylene, Enterprise is in talks with additional customers that could lead to the development of additional PDH capacity, the company said. Last June Enterprise said it would build a PDH facility on the Texas Gulf Coast that would consume up to 35,000 b/d of propane to produce 1.65 billion pounds/year (750,000 metric tons per year or 25,000 b/d) of polymer-grade propylene (PGP) (see Shale Daily, June 22, 2012). The facility is to be integrated with the partnership’s existing propylene fractionation facilities, which have capacity of 5.3 billion pounds/year. The PDH facility will also be integrated with Enterprise’s PGP storage facilities, 102-mile distribution pipeline system and export terminal. “This [PDH capacity] demand is being driven by the combination of a 38% decrease in propylene supplies since 2006 due to additional ethane consumption by U.S. petrochemical companies and the growing supplies of domestic propane from the U.S. shale plays,” said Jim Teague, COO of Enterprise’s general partner.

Goodrich Petroleum Corp. said Thursday it plans to spend between $175 million and $200 million on capital expenditures (capex) in 2013, most of which will go toward drilling for oil in the Eagle Ford Shale and Tuscaloosa Marine Shale (TMS), but a small portion will be spent on dry gas in the Haynesville Shale.

BP plc plans to begin drilling the first of 10 appraisal wells in Trumbull County, OH, next April, but developing eastern Ohio’s portion of the Utica Shale may be hampered by a lack of pipeline infrastructure, officials said this week.