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

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

**October 13, 2004**

**Highlights / Major Developments**

**Heating Oil Surges 3.1% to \$1.50/Gallon for First Time on Nymex**
Heating oil in New York surged to \$1.50 a gallon for the first time in
the 26-year history of the futures contract amid supply concerns before
winter. Wholesale prices have risen 24 percent in a month, sending the
national average retail price to more than \$1.82 a gallon. Bloomberg
News, 1551 October 13, 2004

**Electricity**

**MidAmerican Starts Construction of Two New Windfarm Projects in Iowa**
MidAmerican Energy decided to move forward on two projects totaling
\$323 million after President Bush signed an extension of the federal
tax credit for energy from wind, biomass, and poultry litter projects.
[www.industrialinfo.com](http://www.industrialinfo.com/)

# 549 MW Elk Hills Gas-fired Plant Back On-line

Reuters, 1338 October 13, 2004

# AES's 225 MW Gas-fired Huntington Beach, CA Plant Shut Down Wednesday

Reuters, 1338 October 13, 2004

**OPG's Lakeview 1 285 MW Coal-fired Unit in ON Shut Wednesday**

The outage was a short-term forced outage.

Reuters, 1334 October 13, 2004

# Progress Energy\'s S.C. Robinson 2 Nuke Shut

Progress Energy Inc.\'s 710-megawatt Robinson 2 nuclear unit in South
Carolina shut by early Wednesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
said in its power reactor status report. On Tuesday, the unit was
operating at full power. The unit was shut to repair a valve in the
plant's cooling system. Bloomberg News, 1216 October 13, 2004

**Vermont Yankee Nuke Plan Stirs Concern in Vermont** Amid the protests
that have erupted over nuclear power plants in New England, the Vermont
Yankee plant here has long operated as an oasis of calm. Perched on the
Connecticut River about 10 miles from the Massachusetts border, the
32-year-old reactor provides a third of Vermont\'s electricity. But that
calm is ending. The plant\'s owner, Louisiana-based Entergy Corp., asked
the Nuclear Regulatory Commission last year for permission to boost the
plant\'s output by 20 percent, and both nuclear safety advocates and the
state of Vermont itself have risen to oppose the request.
<http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_action=doc&p_docid=105AF67EC87D55F4&p_docnum=1>

# PSC Approves Coal Plant in State\'s North-Central Area

**Growing Demand for Electric Power is Cited**

A new \$752 million coal power plant to serve north-central Wisconsin
received a crucial go-ahead Thursday from the Public Service Commission.
In a unanimous decision, the commission said Wisconsin Public Service
Corp. of Green Bay had justified the need for the plant based on growing
electricity demand in the region, as well as the eventual need for WPS
to shut down other aging, polluting coal plants. The 515-megawatt plant
would provide energy to serve about 257,000 homes. The plant, known as
Weston 4, will be built near Wausau, adjacent to an existing plant,
Weston 3.

[*http://www.energycentral.com/centers/news/daily/article.cfm?aid=5183692*](http://www.energycentral.com/centers/news/daily/article.cfm?aid=5183692)

**Petroleum**

**Also see Highlights / Major Developments**

**Hurricane Ivan Oil Production Shut-in Statistics**

The shut-in oil production is equivalent to 27.73% of the daily
production of oil in the GOM, which is approximately 1.7 million BOPD.
The cumulative (9/11/04-10/13/04) shut-in oils production is 19,392,580
bbls which is equivalent to 3.205% of the yearly production of oil in
the GOM which is approximately 605,000,000 bbls.
<http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2004/press1013.htm>

# US SPR Crude Oil Inventory, Delivery Schedule Updated October 13

The Energy Department updates its SPR inventory and delivery schedule on
the Web at:

[*http://www2.spr.doe.gov/DIR/SilverStream/Pages/pgDailyInventoryReportViewDOE_new.html*](http://www2.spr.doe.gov/DIR/SilverStream/Pages/pgDailyInventoryReportViewDOE_new.html)

# 

# US Govt Rejects Shell Sour/Sweet SPR Swap

The U.S. government rejected a request by Royal Dutch/Shell Group\'s
Shell Oil Co. to swap its sour crude supplies for sweet grades from the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve, two industry sources told Reuters on
Wednesday. Shell Oil, which last month signed a deal to borrow 1.4
million barrels from the stockpile, had further asked the Energy
Department to swap sour supplies for sweet, the sources said. Shell\'s
request was rejected last week.

Reuters, 1558 October 13, 2004

# Alaska Probing Prudhoe Bay Oil Output Slowdown

Regulators in Alaska are looking into a steep drop in oil production
this summer at Prudhoe Bay, the largest U.S. oil field, but so far have
found no reason to fault BP Exploration (Alaska Inc.), the BP unit that
operates the field, a state official said Wednesday.

Reuters, 1546 October 13, 2004

**Norway Varg Oilfield Shutdown Delayed to Wednesday**

Technical work has delayed to Wednesday afternoon from Tuesday the
shutdown of Norway\'s 25,000 barrels per day Varg oilfield in the North
Sea due to an expanding rig workers\' strike, union officials said.

Reuters, 0612 October 13, 2004

# Saudi on Drilling Drive to Support Higher Capacity

Top world oil exporter Saudi Arabia is on a drilling drive to sustain a
crude supply cushion of at least 1.5 million barrels per day (bpd),
industry sources said on Wednesday.

Reuters, 0320 October 13, 2004

**Nigeria\'s DPR says exports to continue if strike goes beyond
Thursday**

Nigeria\'s Department of Petroleum Resources Wednesday said oil export
loadings would not be disrupted even if a four-day general strike over
rising fuel prices were extended beyond Thursday.

The DPR, which regulates crude and product liftings at the nation\'s
export terminals and refineries, said it was ready to activate a
contingency plan to ensure oil exports continue.
<http://www.platts.com/Oil/News/7028310.xml?S=n>

**Crude Prices Rally Past \$53/Barrel on Speculation and Mexico Pipeline
Explosion** Crude oil futures rallied back above \$53 late on Wednesday
on speculation and panic sparked by an oil line explosion in Mexico. The
pipeline was not for exporting oil.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/041013/oil_prices_11.html>

**Natural Gas**

**Hurricane Ivan Gas Production Shut-in Statistics** The shut-in gas
production is equivalent to 13.87% of the daily production of gas in the
GOM, which is approximately 12.3 BCFPD. The cumulative
(9/11/04-10/13/04) shut-in gas production is 82.620 BCF which is
equivalent to 1.857% of the yearly production of gas in the GOM which is
approximately 4.45 TCF.

<http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2004/press1013.htm>

[**HORIZON: US Applies Brakes To Offshore Terminal Licensing In
Gulf**](http://www.energyintel.com/DocumentDetail.asp?document_id=132750)\
It now turns out that it\'s not all smooth sailing for LNG facilities in
the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Louisiana. Last month, the Coast Guard
\-- which by law has only one year in which to process applications \--
stopped the regulatory clock until it obtains additional information in
licensing proceedings for all four terminals proposed in the Gulf. A
major issue is their intention to use seawater rather than gas-generated
heat to turn the LNG back into a gaseous state. World Gas Intelligence,
October 13, 2004

**Other News**

# Electric System Emergency Restoration Plan

<http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/power/news_article.cfm?id=5181962>

[**Box that caused alarm on highway was not
explosive**](http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/9902842.htm)

The suspicious metal box that forced the closure of the Schuylkill
Expressway and backed up traffic for three hours Monday night contained
wood mixed with an adhesive - not a bomb, FBI and law enforcement
officials said Tuesday. The box had been clamped to a Peco Energy Co.
transmission tower near the Belmont Avenue exit.\
Philadelphia Inquirer, October 13, 2004

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (10       | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /13/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 53.86     | 51.98     | 31.91      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 5.38      | 6.00      | 4.96       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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