Independent

Friday marks a new day for Marathon Oil Corp. as an independent upstream company after completing the spinoff Thursday of its downstream businesses.

The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) has named Steve Berberich as its new CEO, replacing Yakout Mansour, who retired recently after a six-year stint heading the state grid operator. A former executive with Dallas-based TXU, Berberich joined CAISO in 2005 and has served since 2010 as COO at CAISO’s Folsom, CA headquarters. Keith Casey had served as interim CEO since Mansour left CAISO.

The Bakken play in North Dakota and parts of Montana holds a potential 24 billion boe in oil, liquids and natural gas, according to the CEO of one of the Bakken’s pioneering independent exploration and production (E&P) companies.

Concord, MA-based independent power producer SCS Energy plans to take over a carbon capture and storage (CCS) project tied to a proposed integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power generation plant in the heart of the oil-rich southern San Joaquin Valley near Elk Hills. Earlier this year BP plc and Rio Tinto pulled out of the joint venture project centered on Hydrogen Energy California (HECA).

The Independent Oil & Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV) said Wednesday it has launched a new alliance, Just Beneath the Surface (JBTS), to provide the public with information and debunk myths about the industry.

Once the spin-off of El Paso Corp.’s exploration and production (E&P) business is completed, the yet-to-be-named independent producer will be formidable competition in some of the prolific unconventional natural gas and oil plays in the United States, CEO Doug Foshee said.

On the heels of a legislative session that failed to pass any Marcellus Shale development measures, two Maryland lawmakers are seeking an independent review of their state’s regulatory framework.

Faced with “unsustainably low” natural gas prices, onshore independent Encana Corp. will redirect up to $1 billion of its 2011 capital spending from dry gas output to natural gas liquids (NGL) and oil production, CEO Randy Eresman said last week.

Faced with “unsustainably low” natural gas prices, onshore independent Encana Corp. will redirect up to $1 billion of its 2011 capital spending from dry gas output to natural gas liquids (NGL) and oil production, CEO Randy Eresman said Wednesday.