ConocoPhillips is pushing back the opening of a training facility and research center in Louisville to 2012 or 2013, a move that a company official Thursday attributed in part to the economic downturn.

The Houston-based energy giant previously targeted the 2011 to mid-2012 time frame for the first phase of its development of the 432-acre former StorageTek and Sun Microsystems site off U.S. 36.

The shift in the economy has prompted ConocoPhillips to scale back on some of its alternative-fuels efforts, causing some projects to be slowed, company spokeswoman Tracy Harlow said at a presentation at Thursday’s Boulder Valley Real Estate Conference and Forecast.

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