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

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

###### August 26, 2004

**Electricity**

**Dukes Calif. Moss Landing 7 Gas Power Unit Back**\
Duke Energy Corp.'s 755 megawatt Moss Landing 7 natural gas-fired power
unit in California exited a short-term work outage by late Wednesday and
was available for service, the California Independent System Operator
said in a report. The unit had been shut since about Aug. 23.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040826/utilities_duke_mosslanding_2.html>

**Calpine's Calif. Sutter Power Plant Back**\
Calpine Corp.'s 540 megawatt Sutter gas-fired combined-cycle natural
gas-fired power plant in California exited a short outage by late
Wednesday, the California Independent System Operator said in a report.
The unit had been shut since about Aug. 25.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040826/utilities_calpine_sutter_2.html>

**Los Angeles Municipal Utility Ditches Utah Coal Power-plant
Expansion** Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn on Tuesday ordered the city to
withdraw from a planned \$2.1 billion (950 megawatt) coal power plant in
Utah, saying the city\'s \$215 million share of the project should be
spent on cleaner energy sources instead. In a letter to leaders of the
Department of Water and Power, Hahn wrote that the city wouldn\'t need
the extra electricity that would be generated by expanding the
Intermountain Power Plant, a giant coal-powered generator that is shared
by the DWP and other utilities. The DWP gets about one-third of its
electricity from the Delta, Utah, plant. Environmentalists attacked the
city\'s plans to invest in its expansion, saying ratepayer dollars
shouldn\'t be spent on high-pollution power sources.
[http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5EZjnqrtyz%5BUkgt%3EEvbfej%5B%21](http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp^Zjnqrtyz%5BUkgt>Evbfej%5B!)

# Minnesota\'s Power Grid to Get \$1 Billion Upgrade Minnesota\'s rickety power grid is about to undergo its biggest upgrade in more than 20 years, as utility companies scramble to keep pace with higher demand and to prevent future blackouts. The state\'s four largest power companies recently told state regulators that they plan to spend at least \$1 billion over the next 15 years to build new power lines and to upgrade existing ones. The project, dubbed \"Cap X 2020,\" would increase the state\'s transmission capacity by 5,000 megawatts per hour \-- about the same amount of electricity produced by five nuclear power plants the size of Prairie Island. The four companies are Xcel Energy Inc. of Minneapolis, Otter Tail Power Co. of Fergus Falls, Great River Energy of Elk River and Minnesota Power in Duluth. Executives at the companies said in interviews Tuesday that they can no longer put off investing in new lines. For instance, the 345,000-volt transmission line that stretches from the Twin Cities to Milwaukee is often operating at full capacity during hot or cold days, when electricity usage is high.

# [**http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/4946199.html**](http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/4946199.html)

#### Tri-State May Build Large Coal-Fired Power Plant In Colo 

DENVER (AP)\--A company which supplies rural electric systems in
Colorado and three other states is considering building a large
coal-fired power plant along the Front Range to meet growing demand.
<http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/power/news_article.cfm?id=5078382>

**Update \-- Hurricane Charley: Kissimmee, Fla., Utility Sees Progress
but 2,500 Storm Victims Still in Dark** Kissimmee Utility Authority
remained the lone utility in Central Florida trying to restore power to
significant numbers after the ravages of Hurricane Charley on Aug. 13;
it still had a lot of angry customers Tuesday. KUA officials made
headway Tuesday, cutting the number of customers without power from
5,200 at the start of the day to 2,488 at 8 p.m. It was an improvement
over Monday, when workers reconnected only about 400 customers. As crews
whittle away at the problem, Jim Welsh, KUA\'s president and general
manager, said power could be out in some of the areas that remain in the
dark until Sunday.
[http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5EZjnqvrrtVUkgt%3EEvbfej%5B%21](http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp^ZjnqvrrtVUkgt>Evbfej%5B!)

**Petroleum**

**NYMEX Crude Falls on Iraq Peace Hopes**

Crude oil futures fell for the fifth consecutive day on Thursday as
traders hoped that a tentative peace deal in Iraq would decrease the
chance of supply disruption, analysts said. October crude on the New
York Mercantile Exchange settled 37 cents lower at \$43.10 a barrel,
after falling as low as \$42.50. Iraq\'s most revered Shi\'ite religious
authority agreed to a \"very positive\" deal with rebel cleric Moqtada
al-Sadr to end a three-week uprising by Sadr\'s militiamen in Najaf,
police said. Reporters were called to a news conference at Ayatollah Ali
al-Sistani\'s house to announce details of the deal. Iraq\'s southern
oil exports continued at the full rate of 2 million barrels per day,
despite renewed sabotage attempts, while northern crude flowed through
Turkey for the first time in months. Technical analysts expected NYMEX
crude to see further weakness, calling \$45.15 a \"significant top\" in
the market and expecting further speculative liquidation to drive prices
lower. October crude set a contract high of \$48.37 on Friday, when
September crude roared to a record \$49.40, the highest in 21 years of
oil futures trading on the NYMEX, before expiring that day.

Reuters, 1531 August 26, 2004

**Motiva Port Arthur Plant Has Cat Cracker Upset**

Motiva\'s Port Arthur, Texas, oil refinery did not lose production and
its operations on Thursday were back to normal after a minor upset at a
fluid catalytic cat cracking unit on Wednesday that caused some flaring,
a Motiva spokeswoman said. The upset had been reported as required by
law to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality because of the
release of some contaminants, but the 265,000 barrel per day refinery
was not greatly affected, said Sue Parsley, Motiva spokeswoman. No cat
cracker units were shut, she said. Reuters, 1131 August 26, 2004

[**Saudis Near Completion of Big Field
Project**](http://www.energyintel.com/DocumentDetail.asp?document_id=129244)\
Saudi Arabia\'s Qatif and Abu Safah oil-field projects \-- a major
upstream investment commitment \-- are on track to be completed in a
matter of weeks, ahead of an October deadline. Officially, the
development is intended to counter declines at other fields, but
industry observers still expect it to provide a boost to Saudi Arabia\'s
straining capacity International Oil Daily, August 26, 2004

# 

# 

# Natural Gas

**Update \-- Duke\'s Texas Natural Gas Fire Extinguished**\
A fire that had raged for a week at Duke Energy Corp.\' Moss Bluff
natural gas storage cavern was extinguished overnight by emergency
crews, the company said on Thursday. Firefighters, who for days after an
explosion last Thursday had been unable to get near the storage facility
opening at the site in rural Liberty County. Boots & Coots International
Well Control Inc. is conducting safety checks before capping the storage
tank, which has a capacity of 8.7 billion cubic feet (bcf), a Duke
spokeswoman said. \"As soon as we finish all our safety checks, Boots &
Coots will go back in to see if they can put in the new valve
assembly,\" said Frances Jeter, spokeswoman for Duke. Duke said it was
not yet known if any gas remained in the tank or if it had all burned
away. There were no estimates when services would resume at the Moss
Bluff facility, which has a total capacity of 16 billion cubic feet in
three separate salt dome caverns, the spokeswoman said.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040826/utilities_duke_mossbluff_2.html>

**Texas Reports Record Gas Well Completions**

Texas officials Wednesday reported the numbers of natural gas wells
being completed in the state are the highest in more than 30 years.

<http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/gas/news_article.cfm?id=5078502>

**Other**

**Nuclear Plant Safety Improved Since 9/11** The nation\'s nuclear
plants have spent \$1 billion to improve security since the terrorist
attacks, increasing the security force from 5,000 to 8,000 guards.
<http://www.energycentral.com/centers/news/daily/article.cfm?aid=5075736>

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (8        | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /26/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 43.06     | 48.66     | 32.01      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 5.19      | 5.34      | 5.09       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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