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

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

###### April 7, 2004

**Electricity**

**Crane Part Falls into Millstone-3 Reactor Cavity**

A part from a heavy crane fell into the Millstone-3 reactor cavity today
during refueling activities, Dominion spokesman Richard Zuercher said.
The unit was taken off line over the weekend, and crews were preparing
to remove the missile shield over the reactor vessel head around noon
today when the incident took place. Zuercher said a lifting device on
the crane became \"unstable\" and fell during a personnel shift change.
There were no injuries, and the shield was not displaced, he said.
Zuercher said Dominion is

investigating whether there is any damage to the crane equipment, how
the accident occurred, and if the refueling schedule will be affected.
<http://www.platts.com/Nuclear/News/8722517.xml?S=n>

**APS\' N.M. Four Corners 4 Coal Plant Shut for Work**\
Arizona Power Public Service Co. said its 750 megawatt Four Corners 4
coal-fired power unit in New Mexico was shut by early Wednesday for
maintenance. A spokeswoman told Reuters the unit, which had a small tube
leak, was not expected to be down for long.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040407/utilities_aps_fourcorners_1.html>

**AEP\'s Mich. Cook 1 Nuke Starts to Exit Outage, Up to 7 Pct**\
American Electric Power Co Inc.\'s 1,035 megawatt Cook 1 nuclear unit in
Michigan started to exit an outage and ramped up to 7 percent of
capacity by early Wednesday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in
its power reactor status report. The unit had been shut since about
March 30 for repair work. See Energy Assurance Daily from March 30,
2004. The Cook station is located Bridgman, Michigan, about 80 miles
east of Chicago.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040407/utilities_aep_cook_1.html>

**Culley in ECAR Tripped Midday Tuesday**

The plant has since recovered and is running near previous levels by
early Wednesday.

Genscape Overnight Update, April 7, 2004

#### Cross in SERC Tripped Tuesday

The plant has since recovered and is running near previous levels by
early Wednesday

Genscape Overnight Update, April 7, 2004

**Petroleum**

**Exxon to Restart Beaumont, Texas, Refinery Coker**

ExxonMobil will restart a coker unit at its 360,000 barrel per day (bpd)
Beaumont, Texas, refinery on Sunday, the company said in a filing with
the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. Exxon Beaumont is
the third-largest refinery in Texas, with a total coking capacity of
45,500 bpd. It was not clear how long the unit had been down. Company
officials were not immediately available for comment.

<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040407/energy_exxon_refinery_1.html>

**Shell Deer Park Hydrotreater Down After Restart Snag**

Royal Dutch/Shell aborted the restart of a catalytic gasoline
hydrotreater unit at its 340,000 barrel per day Deer Park, Texas,
refinery on Monday, the company said in a filing with the Texas Natural
Resource Conservation Commission. During the unit\'s start-up, a flange
leak was discovered and the unit was shut down. The company said it will
install a new gasket before it attempts to restart the unit again. The
unit removes sulphur from gasoline, but it does not affect throughput, a
company spokesman said. (Shell Oil is still repairing damage to the
company's 110,000 bpd refinery in Wilmington, California from a fire
March 23 in the coker plant.

Reuters, 0904 April 7, 2004

Reuters, 1758, April 6, 2004

**BP says Texas City Refinery had a Glitch but is now Running Normally**
BP said on Tuesday its 460,000 barrel-per-day refinery in Texas City,
Texas, was running at normal rates despite a small glitch. A spokeswoman
said a minor problem with a compressor had not impacted refinery output,
responding to reports the company was forced to shut a
gasoline-producing unit at the plant. \"The refinery is running
normally,\" the spokeswoman said. BP had shut the aromatic recovery unit
B at its Texas City, Texas, refinery/chemical plant complex on Tuesday
in preparation for shutting a power unit on Thursday, according to a
filing with the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality. The aromatics
unit was turned off to reduce power demand at the complex, which will
suffer a steam shortage while the power unit is shut. The 460,000 barrel
per day (bpd) Texas City refinery suffered a fire in an ultraformer on
March 30.

<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040407/energy_bp_refinery_1.html>

Reuters 1849 April 6, 2004

Reuters 1044 April 7, 2004

**US Distillate Drop Steepest Since Early April 1983**\
U.S. refiners maximizing gasoline production last week helped push
distillate supplies down the most for that week since 1983, the
government said on Wednesday. Distillates fell 4.5 million barrels last
week, the most for the same week since a 9.9 million barrel drop in the
same week of 1983. "We\'ve been so low on gasoline that refiners are
switching from distillates to gasoline production,\" said Laurie Falter,
an industry economist at the Energy Information Administration. Gasoline
stocks fell 800,000 barrels last week to 200.1 million barrels, which is
5.5 million barrels, or 2.7 percent, lower than the five-year average,
the EIA said. Distillate stocks are now 4.2 million barrels, or 4
percent, lower than the five-year average, the agency said.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rm/040407/energy_distillate_supply_2.html>

**ConocoPhillips Lifts West Coast Allocation**\
ConocoPhillips has informed its customers that the allocation for
branded gasoline marketers in Northern California and in the Pacific
Northwest has been lifted. The allocation was first put into effect late
last week, and was put into place due to market conditions. OPIS Price
Watch Alert, April 7, 2004

**U.S. FTC Says Evaluating Shell Refinery Closing**\
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission said it is evaluating Royal
Dutch/Shell Group\'s decision to shut down an oil refinery in
California, but has not implemented an official investigation.
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon had asked the agency in February to
look into the matter after raising concerns that closing the
Bakersfield, Calif. refinery would hurt competition and raise the price
of gasoline on the West Coast. The West Coast has the highest gasoline
costs in the United States, with pump prices throughout California in
particular above \$2 a gallon for several months now. Congress has asked
the FTC to look into gasoline prices and the oil industry repeatedly
over the years. The agency has undertaken at least two investigations,
but has never found any serious competition problems.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040407/energy_gasoline_ftc_1.html>

**Shell Willing to Sell Bakersfield Refinery Rather Than Shut It**

Royal Dutch/Shell Group said it\'s willing talk to interested buyers for
its Bakersfield, California, refinery, which is slated for closure.
Shell intends to shut the 72-year-old plant because the availability of
the crude needed to run the refinery is declining, Lynn Elsenhans, chief
executive of Shell Oil Products and the U.S., said in a statement on PR
Newswire. Bloomberg News, 0318, April 7, 2004

**Natural Gas**

Nothing to report.

**Other News**

####### Insurgency Clouds Iraq's Oil Outlook but All Key Assets of Oil Industry Protected

While Iraq's oil installations have been spared the brunt of the latest
violent insurgence, investor confidence can hardly be high as US-led
forces struggle to maintain control a little more than two months before
they hand over power to an Iraqi interim government. Oil veteran Robert
McKee, who recently

returned to the US from a six-month stint in Baghdad as the top oil
adviser to the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), says while
security around key refineries, pipelines and ports has improved
substantially

since the end of the war last year, the ongoing chaos will probably
scare off foreign investment that is sorely needed if Iraq hopes to tap
its vast oil potential. "Where the unrest is occurring now there are no
particular oil fields anywhere close \[though\] there is some
infrastructure. Foreign investment cannot come too soon, said McKee, who
estimated that Iraq will need some \$50 billion to modernize its
creaking oil industry, which is showing its wear from years of war,
under-investment and sanctions. He said that while the Iraqi oil
ministry and other government officials favor some form of foreign
investment, some of them are dragging their feet. Security is obviously
an issue and \[product\] imports are still an issue but basically the
train is in motion on both of those things and I am not as concerned
about them," McKee said, adding that there are some 14,000 Iraqis
guarding the country's oil installations. "All the key assets are
guarded now. All the pipelines are patrolled. There is aerial
surveillance and we have contracts with the various tribes in Iraq to
supplement that," said McKee. "That is up from almost nothing when the
war ended. As that force has gotten bigger, the incidents on assets have
actually gone down considerably."

Oil Daily, April 7, 2004

**Libya Says It Has Implemented OPEC Cut in Oil Output**

Libya, the second-largest African oil producer, has implemented a
decision by the Organization of

Petroleum Exporting Countries to lower oil production this month, an oil
official said. OPEC decided at a meeting a week ago in Vienna to proceed
with a February agreement to reduce oil-output quotas by 4

percent in April.

Bloomberg News, 0559 April 7, 2004

#### Oyster Creek Nuke to Upgrade Security

The owner of the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant will spend \$10
million on anti-terror security upgrades, including more powerful
firearms for security guards. AmerGen Energy said it will build seven
guard towers and surround the perimeter of the facility with razor wire.
Guards will be issued assault rifles and armor-piercing bullets.

<http://www.usatoday.com/news/states/njmain.htm>

**LAX Hydrogen Station OK\'d**

The nation\'s first compressed-hydrogen fueling station for public use
will be built at Los Angeles International Airport, the result of a
lease approved Tuesday by the Los Angeles Board of Airport
Commissioners. The station comes amid concerns that a gallon of gasoline
could cost as much as \$3 in Southern California by summer. The \$1.5
million, 600-square-foot prototype station will be the first facility in
the United States to showcase the generation, compression, storage and
dispensing of compressed- hydrogen fuel.
<http://www.presstelegram.com/Stories/0,1413,204%257E27141%257E2066650,00.html>

#### DOE Settles on Trains for Shipments Decision for Yucca Plan

Nuclear waste will be shipped to Nevada mainly via train, the Energy
Department announced Monday, if its proposed nuclear waste storage site
gets approved. The department selected the option of using trains to
ship waste to Nevada from 127 sites around the country to Yucca
Mountain, 90 miles northwest of Las Vegas. The state will examine the
Federal Register notice, expected to be published Thursday, to see
exactly what the department proposes and if there is a possibility of
legal action.
[http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2004/apr/06/516648126.html?doe%20settles](http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/sun/2004/apr/06/516648126.html?doe settles)

Nothing to report.

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (         | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | 4/7/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 36.26     | 35.75     | 27.76      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 5.76      | 5.63      | 4.98       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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