Planning

ConocoPhillips, which is readying a spinoff of its refinery operations to reemerge as the largest pure-play explorer in North America, is planning to spend $15.5 billion for its capital program in 2012 and repurchase up to $10 billion more of its common stock.

Youngstown State University (YSU) is planning an on-campus institute to educate professionals and provide research for the Utica and Marcellus shale industry in Ohio and Pennsylvania, university officials said.

One year after spending $1.9 billion on capital expenditures (capex) in the Fayetteville Shale play (see Shale Daily, Dec. 21, 2010), Southwestern Energy Co. (SWN) indicated that it would probably spend less there in 2012 as overall gas production and net income and earnings continued to rise.

The federal government isn’t planning a “full court press” on the natural gas industry, but it will if best management practices and state regulations aren’t effective, a former U.S. senator told an audience in Pittsburgh Tuesday.

It wasn’t the overload of Marcellus Shale supplies, but poor planning by Columbia Gas Transmission LLC that “may have created or contributed” to the storage constraints on its system in northern Ohio, Indicated Shippers said in a protest to the pipeline request for a tariff increase.

It wasn’t the overload of Marcellus Shale supplies, but poor planning by Columbia Gas Transmission LLC that “may have created or contributed” to the storage constraints on its system in northern Ohio, Indicated Shippers said in a protest to the pipeline request for a tariff increase.

In an effort to capitalize on emerging feedstock opportunities and growing North American demand, NOVA Chemicals Corp. is planning to build new polyethylene lines and expand ethylene production at two facilities, the Canadian chemical giant said Tuesday.

Royal Dutch Shell said Monday it is planning to build a “world-scale” ethylene cracker with integrated derivative units in the Marcellus Shale in Appalachia. The cracker would process ethane from Marcellus natural gas to produce ethylene, one of the primary building blocks for petrochemicals.

Valero Energy Corp. is planning for the gasoline station of the future to transform into a broad-based multi-fuel station with natural gas, ethanol and perhaps even electricity fueling facilities, along with gasoline and diesel. Ethanol’s E85 fuel mixture is already being offered at several Valero stations and is planned to be offered in all new facilities.