Will

Marathon Oil Corp. CEO Charles Cazalot will be required to step down in three years when he turns age 65, but the company has a succession planning process in place, Cazalot said during an earnings conference call. Last December COO David Roberts left the company with less than a week’s notice “to pursue other interests.” Cazalot said Marathon has a “very strong team and the company is in very good hands, and succession planning for the leadership team is a critical priority.” Roberts had been viewed by some as a successor to Cazalot.

Production from North American shale plays will continue to keep natural gas prices from increasing significantly any time soon, Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Peter Voser told financial analysts in London Thursday.

Production from North American shale plays will continue to keep natural gas prices from increasing significantly any time soon, Royal Dutch Shell plc CEO Peter Voser told financial analysts in London Thursday.

Nexen Inc. and CNOOC Ltd. have pushed back by 30 days the completion of the Canadian company’s C$15.1 billion takeover by the arm of state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Co.

The state of Texas is losing billions of dollar because of tax rate deductions for shale gas wells using hydraulic fracturing that are classified as “high cost wells,” according to a report by the state Legislative Budget Board (LBB).

Constitution Pipeline Co. has finalized the route it will propose for a Marcellus Shale natural gas pipeline in a certification application it expects to file with FERC this spring, the company said in a project update newsletter sent to landowners and other stakeholders.

An expansion of Seaway Crude Oil Pipeline is nearing completion and will increase capacity from about 150,000 b/d to about 400,000 b/d, said Seaway Crude Oil Pipeline LLC, a joint venture of Enterprise Products Partners and Enbridge Inc. Seaway suspended service on its 500-mile, 30-inch diameter pipeline to complete the remaining pump station connections. Service is expected to resume by Jan. 11. In addition to the pipeline that transports crude oil from Cushing, OK, to the Gulf Coast, the Seaway system is composed of a terminal and distribution network originating in Texas City, TX, which serves refineries locally and in the Houston area. The Seaway system also includes dock facilities at Freeport and Texas City. Further expansion of the system is planned to be completed in 2014 (see Shale Daily, March 28, 2012).

Audi AG held a topping-out ceremony recently for a new plant in Germany that will be the world’s first manufacturing facility for producing synthetic methane, or “e-gas,” along with renewable electricity. The facility is scheduled to begin operations early in 2013 and begin feeding e-gas into the local natural gas distribution network by summer.

Encana Corp. and liquefied natural gas (LNG) fueling solutions provider Ferus LNG Inc. said they will build a 190,000 liter per day LNG production facility near Grande Prairie, Alberta (AB).