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

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

###### August 13, 2004

**Highlights/Major Developments**

**Hurricane refugees flee Florida coast**

Almost 2 million people were ordered to evacuate seaside towns and
low-lying areas along the Gulf of Mexico as the powerful Category 4
hurricane took aim at Florida. As the storm approached land it rapidly
increased in intensity jumping from a Category 2 to a Category 4 early
Friday afternoon.

Reuters, 15:25 13, August 13, 2004

**US Gulf storm cut 23 pct of weekly crude output**

The U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) said on Friday Tropical Storm
Bonnie led to a cut in production of nearly 1.26 million barrels of
crude oil and more than 4.1 billion cubic feet of natural gas output in
the Gulf of Mexico. The lost crude production amounted to more than 23
percent of the 5.39 million barrels of oil the entire U.S. produced in
the week ended Aug. 6, according to MMS. The MMS figures include lost
production from Tuesday through Friday morning. The MMS survey includes
reports to it by 41 companies through Thursday and 10 companies on
Friday.

According to MMS, the amount of shut production fell on Friday. MMS
reported that 18.45 percent of the Gulf\'s 1.7 million barrels per day
(bpd) of crude production was shut, down from 28 percent on Thursday.
About 7.4 percent of the Gulf\'s 12.3 billion cubic feet per day of
natural gas production was shut in on Friday, down from 9 percent on
Thursday.

Reuters13:05, August 13, 2004

**Crews Returning to Offshore Platforms as Storm Passes\
**ExxonMobil, Anadarko, Marathon, and Murphy and other companies began
returning work crews to offshore platforms on Thursday as the danger
from hurricane Bonnie passed.

Reuters 9:26, 12:03, August 12, 2004

**Electricity**

**Progress Energy Asks Customers to Conserve and May Shut Crystal River
Nuke as Hurricane Charley Approaches**\
Due to the projected storm surge and impact from Hurricane Charley,
Progress Energy is shutting down power plants on Florida\'s west coast
as a precautionary measure. Flooding from storms can cause significant
damage to power plants. By shutting down before a major storm surge, the
company can secure the facility and limit the water damage so the plant
is available after the storm passes to aid in restoring power to our
customers. If the approaching storm strengthens to a category three
hurricane Florida Progress may include its 842-megawatt Crystal River 3
nuclear unit among the plants to be shut down.

Reuters 7:55 & 9:09 August 13, 2004,

<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040813/utilities_progress_crystalriver_1.html>

<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040813/clf024_1.html>

#### Power Cuts Include Downtown St Petersburg

The weather channel reports that power to downtown St Petersburg will be
cut sometime Friday afternoon in anticipation of the storm due to make
land-fall early this evening. In addition, as of noon on Friday, nearly
two million people have thus far been evacuated from the projected path
of the storm; in addition, amusement parks in the Orlando area including
Universal, Disney and Sea World were closed for the duration of the
storm.

The Weather Channel August 13, 2004

#### Brunswick 1 Nuclear-Power Plant Operating at 70% Capacity

The Brunswick Unit 1 nuclear generating station located in Southport
North Carolina is operating at reduced production, according to Progress
Energy the owner of the plant. The company load dispatcher requested the
plant to down power. The plant is now performing maintenance on storm
related transmission issues.

Bloomberg 11:52, August 13, 2004

#### Fitzpatrick Nuclear-Power Plant Operating at 91% Capacity 

The 825MW Fitzpatrick nuclear generating station is operating at reduced
capacity according to Entergy Corp, owner of the plant. The plant in
Lycoming New York is performing rod pattern exchanges while power
ascension is taking place.

Bloomberg 13:12, August 13, 2004

**Texas Genco\'s Limestone 1 power plant shut**

Texas Genco Holdings Inc.\'s 760-megawatt Limestone 1 coal-fired unit in
Texas was shut early Friday for repairs thus should be completed on
August 14. The 1,520 MW Limestone station is comprised of two 760 units
and is located in Limestone County, Texas about 120 miles northwest of
Houston.

Reuters 11:00, August 13, 2004

**Petroleum**

**Explosion Closes BP's Whiting Refinery Unit**

An explosion and blast at BP\'s 420,000 barrels per day Whiting,
Indiana, oil refinery, the third largest in the United States, slightly
injured three people and downed a processing unit at 6:20 AM local time
Friday. The blast shut a catalytic hydrotreater but the rest of the
refinery was operating normally, according to a BP representative. The
company has a total of 300,000 bpd capacity of catalytic hydrotreating
at the plant. BP declined to say how long the unit would be down.

Reuters 12:10, August 13, 2004

Bloomberg 12:21, August 13, 2004

**Shell Will Operate Bakersfield Refinery Through March**

Royal Dutch/Shell Group will keep its Bakersfield, California, refinery
operating through the end of March 2005 to allow more time to find a
buyer. Shell had planned to close the refinery on October 1 because it
has been losing money but agreed to keep the facility open stay open
after coming to an agreement with California Attorney General Bill
Lockyer, Shell spokesman Dave Harrington said. Lockyer had complained
that closure would boost prices in California, where gasoline prices are
some of the highest in the U.S. Shell is keeping the refinery open in
part to provide some time for any and all potential buyers

to come forward,\'\' Harrington said. The Bakersfield refinery has a
capacity of 70,000 barrels per day and produces 2.2 percent of the
state\'s gasoline supply and 6 percent of its diesel fuel, according to
the California Energy Commission. In order to keep the refinery open
into 2005, Shell will have to negotiate emissions-reduction agreements
with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency order to extend the
refinery\'s use into 2005. "If we don\'t get those (reductions), we\'d
have to close Dec. 31,\'\' Harrington said.

San Francisco. Editors: Coulter, Link.

Bloomberg 13:36, August 13, 2004

**Another Record: Crude Oil Prices Top \$46**

NYMEX crude oil futures closed at \$46.50, ended above \$46 a barrel for
the first time ever on Friday, after an explosion and fire at a large BP
refinery in Whiting, Indiana, fueled more worries in a market already on
edge over possible supply disruptions in Iraq and Venezuela, traders
said. Traders cited concerns about war-torn Iraq and the presidential
recall election on Sunday in Venezuela as contributing factors to the
price surge. However, some analysts believe that the market is now
overbought and that prices could decline next week before any new highs
are likely.

Reuters 14:51, August 13, 2004

# Natural Gas

**FERC Issues Favorable Draft EIS for Sabine Pass LNG Import Terminal**\
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has issued its second favorable
draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) for an LNG terminal in as
many weeks, tentatively sanctioning \-- with mitigating conditions \--
the Sabine Pass LNG terminal and pipeline connections, designed for an
average send-out of 2.6 Bcf/d.

Natural Gas Intelligence August 12 2004

[http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5DZjmmjjljSTgdt%3EEvbfej%5Bv](http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5DZjmmjjljSTgdt>Evbfej%5Bv)

**Kern River Eyes Expansion to Pick Up Expiring Pipe Contracts in CA**\
Kern River Gas Transmission plans to carry out another expansion of its
system to California, providing an outlet for more Rocky Mountain
natural gas, if California regulators next month order state utilities
to turn back capacity on the El Paso Natural Gas and Transwestern
pipeline systems in order to provide supply diversity for California
consumers, said an official for the pipeline Wednesday.

Natural Gas Intelligence August 12 2004

[http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5DZjmmjjljSTgdt%3EEvbfej%5Bv](http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5DZjmmjjljSTgdt>Evbfej%5Bv)

**Other**

#### Thousands of Oil and Gas Leases Unexplored

Despite soaring oil and gas prices, oil companies and individuals who
own nearly 30 million acres of nonproducing federal oil and gas leases
have made little effort to transform them into energy producers, federal
records show. An Associated Press analysis of Bureau of Land Management
records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act found that 98
percent of the more than 33,000 leases still considered nonproducing by
BLM have never had an exploratory well drilled. Ninety-seven percent
have never had a single application for a permit to drill filed with the
BLM.\
Associated Press August 13, 2004\
<http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-newsbrief,0,1411218.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines>

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (8        | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /13/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 46.58     | 44.39     | 30.85      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate**   |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| US \$/Barrel                  |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 5.46      | 5.54      | 5.17       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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