![](media/image1.jpeg){width="8.5in" height="3.5027777777777778in"}U.S.
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

**November 24, 2004**

**Electricity**

# High Winds Cause Power Outages in Houston Area, 200,000 Customers Lose Power

High winds knocked out power for about 200,000 customers in the Houston
area overnight although all but 22,000 had service restored by late
Wednesday morning, a spokeswoman for CenterPoint Energy said. Stacey
Williams, spokeswoman for Houston-based CenterPoint, said the winds
first hit Houston late Tuesday night and were continuing on Wednesday.
They blew down some transmission lines while others were hit by falling
trees.\
Reuters, 134 November 24, 2004

# TVA\'s Ala. Browns Ferry 3 Nuclear Unit Shut

The Tennessee Valley Authority\'s 1,150 megawatt Browns Ferry 3 nuclear
unit in Alabama was shut as of early Wednesday due to a problem with one
of its turbines, a plant spokesman said on Wednesday. Early Tuesday, the
unit was operating at 100 percent of capacity. Operators are continuing
to investigate the cause of the problem and are also conducting minor
plant maintenance, the spokesman added.

Reuters, 0710 and 1215 November 24, 2004

# Wisconsin Energy Point Beach 2 Nuke Up to 1 Pct Power

Wisconsin Energy Corp.\'s 517 MW Point Beach 2 nuclear unit in Wisconsin
was operating at 1 percent of capacity as of early Wednesday, the U.S.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its daily power reactor status
report. Early Tuesday, the unit was shut down. The unit had shut on Nov.
19 due to a steam leak on an instrument isolation

valve inside containment.\
Reuters, 0721 and 1433 November 24, 2004

**Calif. San Onofre 2 Nuclear Unit Nears Full Power**

The 1,123 megawatt Unit 2 at the San Onofre nuclear plant in Southern
California ramped up to 99 percent of capacity as of early Wednesday,
the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its daily power reactor
status report. The unit, which tripped off line on Friday due to a
ground on an electrical generator, reached 43 percent power early
Tuesday and reconnected to the grid Tuesday afternoon, a plant spokesman
told Reuters on Tuesday. Several older, less efficient, gas-fired plants
in southern California had been asked by grid operators to temporarily
return to service to replace San Onofre supplies.\
Reuters, 0745 and 1429 November 24, 2004

**Petroleum**

### Power Outages Could Be Affecting Meraux, Chalmette

There are unconfirmed reports that the 190,200 b/d Chalmette Refining
plant in Chalmette, La., and Murphy\'s 125,000 b/d Meraux, La.,
refineries suffered a power outages early Wednesday morning. Both were
waiting for reliable power to return to restart.

Oil Price Information Service, 1039 and 1305, November 24, 2004\
<http://money.iwon.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?cat=USMARKET&src=704&feed=dji&section=news&news_id=dji-00082720041124&date=20041124&alias=/alias/money/cm/nw>

# Shell Deer Park\'s 340,000 bpd refinery in Deer Park, Texas Reduced Output

Shell's Deerpark refinery was operating at reduced rates after a power
blip, the

company said Nov. 24.\
Reuters, 1429 November 24, 2004

[**Troubled Waters: Tanker Queues Put Spotlight On Bosporus
Bypass**](http://www.energyintel.com/DocumentDetail.asp?document_id=135841)\
Delays in squeezing ships carrying Russian and Caspian crude through the
Turkish Straits have grown to over two weeks as winter sets in, putting
the spotlight once again back on the need for a pipeline that bypasses
the congested Bosporus and Dardanelles. But with six potential routes
being pushed by a motley crew of promoters from Russia, Turkey and
elsewhere, it is still far from clear which project will ever see the
light of day.\
Nefte Compass, November 24, 2004

**Petro-Canada Updates Incident at Terra Nova**\
Petro-Canada has deployed equipment to assist in the clean up of a
discharge of oily water which occurred early Sunday morning at the Terra
Nova oil field, 350 kilometres east-south-east of St. John\'s,
Newfoundland. Oil production has been suspended pending a review of the
incident by the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board.
Petro-Canada is conducting a thorough internal review of its own, and is
cooperating fully with the Board in its investigation, said Incident
Commander Ed Martin. Sea conditions offshore have helped mitigate the
discharge, and a team working to clean up the spill and has deployed
floating containment booms.

<http://biz.yahoo.com/cnw/041123/petro_cda_terra_nova_1.html>

**No Work on N. Iraq Oil Well Fires for Another Week**\
Work to extinguish fires in six northern Iraqi oil wells will not begin
for at least another week, keeping flows via the export pipeline to
Turkey at no more than 200,000 barrels per day, an oil official said on
Wednesday. The official from Iraq\'s North Oil Company said a sixth oil
well was set ablaze by saboteurs on Saturday, adding to five that have
been burning in the Khabbaz field near the northern oil city of Kirkuk
since a series of sabotage attacks mid-month.\
Reuters, 0534 November 24, 2004

**Natural Gas**

**N.Y. Natural Gas Has Largest Gain in 21 Months on Supply Drop**\
Natural gas rose more than a dollar, its biggest gain in 21 months,
after a U.S. report showed inventories of the winter heating fuel fell
more than expected. Stores of the fuel dropped 49 billion cubic feet to
3.272 trillion, the U.S. Energy Department said in a weekly report. The
draw from winter storage was double the biggest decline forecast by any
of the 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, and it triggered a surge that
may have squeezed traders who had made bets that prices would fall. Gas
for December delivery rose \$1.183, or 17 percent, to \$7.976 per
million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It
was the biggest gain for the contract nearest expiration since Feb. 24,
2003, when gas jumped 38 percent. Bloomberg News, 1604 November 24, 2004

**Freebird Gas Seeks Go-Ahead to Expand Alabama Storage Field**\
Freebird Gas Storage LLC has filed an application at FERC seeking to
carry out a Phase II expansion of the former East Detroit Gas Storage
Field in Lamar County, AL.

Natural Gas Intelligence (Nov. 23, 2004**)**

[http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5DZkookjtuVUie%22EN%26bfej%5B%21](http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5DZkookjtuVUie"EN%26bfej%5B!)

**FERC OKs Compression Expansion on CenterPoint Gas Transmission**\
CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission Co. (CEGT) on Tuesday received a
FERC certificate to carry out a compression expansion of its system in
Arkansas to serve a longstanding local distribution customer and future
market growth.

Natural Gas Intelligence (Nov. 23, 2004)

[http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5DZkookjtuVUie%22EN%26bfej%5B%21](http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5DZkookjtuVUie"EN%26bfej%5B!)

### 

### Restrictions to IDD Lifted Beginning 11/24/04

Northern Natural Gas Company will be lifting the restriction to schedule
IDD injections to the extent that they create or increase a positive
inventory balance. IDD daily injection amounts will still be limited by
the injection allocation capacity. Northern has reviewed its current and
future storage inventory obligations and has determined that incremental
IDD inventories can be accepted at this time. Northern will continue to
monitor this situation and update customers if this restriction changes.
Please contact your Marketing or Customer Service representative if you
have any questions concerning this notification or your IDD contract
provisions. The restrictions to IDD will be lifted starting with the
Non-grid process on Wednesday November 24^th^.

Nov 23 2004 5:55PM

<http://www.northernnaturalgas.com/infopostings/asp/atAGlanceNotices.asp?id_priority=Y&company=179#19224>

**Other**

Nothing to report.

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (11       | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /24/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 49.14     | 46.85     | 29.99      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 5.01      | 6.06      | 4.57       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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