Integrated

Dominion Virginia Power (DVP) will lean more on natural gas for power generation over the next 15 years, the Dominion subsidiary said in an updated integrated resource plan filed with the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) Thursday.

Southern Union Co. said its Southern Union Gas Services (SUGS) midstream business will construct a 200 MMcf/d gas processing plant and associated gathering, compression and treating facilities to serve growing production from the Avalon, Bone Spring and Wolfcamp plays of West Texas and Southeast New Mexico.

Idaho Power Co. has filed an integrated resource plan (IRP) with Idaho and Oregon regulators calling for a near-doubling of its natural gas-fired generation with the completion next year of a third plant. The utility’s 300 MW combined-cycle gas-fired Langley Gulch generation plant is set to open in June 2012. The plant was identified as needed in Idaho Power’s 2009 IRP. Two existing gas-fired plants provide 345 MW of nameplate capacity collectively. Part of the new plant’s development includes construction of a connecting gas transmission pipeline and a 230-kV electric transmission line and substation. Idaho Power said in addition to boosting its power supply portfolio, Langley Gulch is expected to help the utility integrate ever-larger amounts of wind-powered generation into its system. The gas-fired generation is expected to be increased and decreased quickly in response to the intermittent wind supplies.

U.S. natural gas and oil reserves ended 2010 with the strongest combined annual growth in five years, according to the fourth annual benchmark study by Ernst & Young LLP.

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).

Houston-based Marathon, which is the fourth largest integrated producer in the United States, began leasing acreage in the DJ Basin in 2010. It currently is acquiring 2-D and 3-D seismic data and expects to participate in eight to 12 gross exploration wells by the end of the year.

A pipeline project to deliver Marcellus Shale ethane from Pennsylvania to Canadian markets was announced Tuesday by MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources LLC and Sunoco Logistics Partners LP.

Marathon Oil Corp., which has announced plans to spin off its integrated assets and become a stand-alone explorer, on Wednesday said it plans to increase its capital spending in 2011 to develop existing projects and exploit new resources, including onshore in North America.

Marathon Oil Corp., which has announced plans to spin off its integrated assets and become a stand-alone explorer, on Wednesday said it plans to increase its capital spending in 2011 to develop existing projects and exploit new resources, including onshore in North America.