![](media/image1.jpeg){width="8.75in" height="3.6055555555555556in"}U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

###### June 4, 2004

**Electricity**

**Tens of Thousands Have No Power in Louisiana**

Nearly 70,000 homes in northwest Louisiana were without power on
Wednesday, June 2, following a fourth night of rain and high winds.
Power company AEP SWEPCO says it will bring in reinforcement crews from
Arkansas and Texas to help restore power. Pierre-Bossier mall in Bossier
City, LA, was evacuated after part of the mall\'s roof was ripped off.
AEP SWEPCO spokesperson Kay Holt says it might take into the weekend for
all the customers to be restored.\
Associated Press, June 3, 2004

<http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=1915521&nav=EyAzNd7Z>

**Nuclear Plants May Count Fuel Rods**

About a dozen nuclear power plants are being asked to inventory their
fuel rods, following the loss of some rods at plants in Connecticut and
Vermont. There is no evidence the rods got into the hands of terrorists,
investigations found, but nuclear power regulators want the inventory to
get a better idea how spent fuel is managed. The nationwide review "is
being done on a one-time basis to make sure plants have good control
over what's in their spent fuel pools," said Neil Sheehan, spokesperson
for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. "There is an even higher
sensitivity to properly safeguard this material post 9/11." The
inventory will be done in three phases. First, power plant owners and
federal inspectors must determine whether any fuel rods have ever been
removed from their usual storage assemblies and placed in other
containers. Plant operators must account for those fuel rods through
record-keeping or other means. Then, they may have to do an intensive
inspection to locate and account for the waste.

Associated Press, June 3, 2004

<http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct--nuclearfuelrods0603jun03,0,7443788.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire>

####### Petroleum

**United States: Industry Takes Terrorism in Its Stride**

Growing fears of more terrorist attacks in the Middle East \--
heightened by the weekend killings of oil workers in Saudi Arabia, the
world\'s biggest producer \-- cast an unwelcome spotlight on the
vulnerability of oil installations in the world's biggest oil consumer.

Energy Compass, June 4, 2004.

<http://www.energyintel.com/>

**ConocoPhillips PA Naphtha Reformer Down on Fire**

An early morning fire Thursday shut a naphtha reformer at the
ConocoPhillips refinery in Trainer, Pennsylvania, the company said on
Friday. The fire was a relatively small one that caused no injuries but
did shut the reformer. The company\'s spokesman, Jeff Callender, did not
say how long the unit will be down, but trade sources said it will be
out a week. Callender said no other units at the refinery are down, and
the plant, which has the ability to distill 190,000 barrels per day of
crude, is operating at reduced capacity because of the outage of the
reformer.

Reuters, June 4, 1046

<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040604/energy_conoco_trainer_1.html>

**Valero Shuts Naphtha Reformer at Benicia, California Plant**

Valero Energy Corp. said on Friday it was shutting the naphtha reformer
at its 175,000 barrel per day (bpd) refinery in the San Francisco Bay
area town of Benicia, California. The 10 days of maintenance on the
naphtha reformer will reduce production of ethanol-blend CARBOB gasoline
by 20,000 bpd, the company said in a statement. To reduce the impact of
the shutdown on the volatile California gasoline markets, Valero has
shipped 110,000 barrels of CARBOB gasoline from its Corpus Christi,
Texas, refinery, according to the statement.

Reuters, June 4, 2004, 1524

**U.S. Refiners Promise to Run Flat Out \-- Abraham**

The U.S. oil industry has promised to keep refineries operating at the
highest rate possible this summer to meet demand for gasoline, U.S.
Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham said on Friday. Abraham told reporters
he received assurances from the U.S. oil refining industry at a meeting
on Thursday that they would operate full out during the summer, when
demand for gasoline peaks. The meeting with the National Petrochemical
and Refiners Association was held at the Energy Department headquarters.
Abraham said he "made it clear" to industry representatives he wanted
"no diminishment in refining capacity during this summertime period,"
such as temporary shutdowns for maintenance at refineries. The Energy
Department will be "monitoring" how U.S. refineries are operated, he
said.

"My sense is, they would operate at absolute limits," he added. The U.S.
average retail gasoline price rose to a record \$2.06 per gallon last
month, reflecting a rise in crude oil prices on nervousness about Middle
East supplies. After OPEC met on Thursday and agreed to boost its
official production quota by 2.5 million barrels per day in July and
August, crude oil futures fell sharply. Abraham also said he opposed
conducting a 5 million barrel test sale of crude oil from the nation's
Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Such a test has been proposed by some
energy industry experts as a way to demonstrate the Bush administration
is ready to use the stockpile if needed. But he said the government
would consider conducting a test sale if Energy Department experts
believed it was necessary \"to work the kinks out."\
Reuters, Jun 4, 2004, 0112

<http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=KEMN5130F5GEKCRBAEOCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=5348964>

#### 

#### Natural Gas 

**Maine Officials Expect LNG Terminal Deal within Weeks**

State officials in Maine say an agreement between a local community and
an LNG terminal developer will be announced in the next few weeks,
greatly improving the chances for an import terminal to be built in the
state in the next few years.

NGI's Daily Gas Price Index Jun 4, 2004

<http://intelligencepress.com/>

####### 

####### 

####### Other

**Once Seen As an Alarmist Fear, an Attack on**

**Key Saudi Oil Terminal Could Destabilize West**

When Fadel Gheit first warned of his \"nightmare scenario\" that Saudi
Arabia\'s main oil export terminal at Ras Tanura could be wiped out by
terrorists, he was dismissed as an alarmist. As fears of upheaval in
Saudi helped set world crude oil prices to 21-year highs of \$42.45 per
barrel, there were fewer willing to scoff at Gheit. "I cannot think of
any more logical target for terrorists. It \[Ras Tanura\] is the nerve
center for the Saudi oil trade but also for global exports." Saudi
Arabia is the linchpin for world crude supplies, a key to setting prices
and yet sitting on a political tinderbox due to internal dissent and
having trouble securing itself against terrorism. An assault on Ras
Tanura is very serious. As much as 80% of the near 9m barrels of oil a
day pumped out by Saudi is believed to end up being piped from fields
such as Ghawar to Ras Tanura in the Gulf to be loaded on to supertankers
bound for the west.

The Guardian (UK), June 3, 2004

<http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1230112,00.html>

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (         | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | 6/4/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 38.44     | 39.90     | 29.81      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 6.15      | 6.45      | 6.40       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **Henry Hub**                 |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Million Btu                |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+

> Source: Reuters

**This Week in Petroleum** from the Energy Information Administration
(EIA)

[*http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip.asp*](http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/twip/twip.asp)

Updated on Wednesdays

**Weekly Petroleum Status Report** from EIA**\
**[*http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/weekly_petroleum_status_report/wpsr.html*](http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/weekly_petroleum_status_report/wpsr.html)

Updated after 1:00pm (Eastern time) on Wednesdays

**Natural Gas Weekly Update** from EIA

[*http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/ngw/ngupdate.asp*](http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/ngw/ngupdate.asp)

Updated after 2:00 pm (Eastern time) on Thursdays