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

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

###### August 25, 2004

**Electricity**

**Columbia Generating Station Ramps up to 83%**

The 1,158 MW Columbia Generating Station nuclear plant in Washington
state had ramped up to 83 percent power by early Tuesday, up from 63
percent a day earlier, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its
daily plant status report. The unit had been shut since Aug. 18 for work
on a reactor feedwater pump. Reuters, 1409 August 25, 2004

**Brunswick 1 Nuke Power Production at 100% NRC Says** Bloomberg News,
0802 August 25, 2004

**Calpine Sees Calif. Sutter Power Plant Back Soon**\
Calpine Corp. expected its 540 megawatt Sutter gas-fired combined-cycle
natural gas-fired power plant in California to return to service later
Wednesday following an unplanned outage, a spokeswoman for the energy
company said. The unit, which was available for service late on Aug. 24,
was shut by early Wednesday. One MW powers 1,000 homes, according to the
national average.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040825/utilities_calpine_sutter_2.html>

**AEPs Texas Welsh 1 Coal Plant Shut for Work**\
American Electric Power Co Inc.'s 528 megawatt Welsh 1 coal-fired power
unit in Texas was shut by Aug. 24-25 for repairs on a boiler tube leak,
Texas regulators said in a report Wednesday. The report said the unit
would likely exit the outage about Aug. 28-29.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040825/utiltiies_aep_welsh_2.html>

**Kansas Wolf Creek Nuke Back at Full Power**\
The 1,235 megawatt Wolf Creek nuclear power plant in Kansas returned to
full power by early Wednesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission
said in its power reactor status report. On Tuesday, the unit was
operating at 29 percent of capacity after exiting an outage started on
Aug. 22 during a surveillance test.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040825/utilities_greatplains_wolfcreek_2.html>

**PPLs Pa. Susquehanna 1 Nuke Back at Full Power**\
PPL Corp.s 1,100 megawatt Susquehanna 1 nuclear unit in Pennsylvania
returned to full power by early Wednesday, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission said in its power reactor status report. On Thursday, the
unit was reduced to about 75 percent of capacity to repair a feedwater
pump. <http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040825/utiltities_ppl_susquehanna_2.html>

**FPL Restores 97 Percent of Customers Left Without Power by Hurricane
Charley**\
L**ess Than 30,000 to Go** Florida Power & Light Company today
reaffirmed that it will make the August 29 target date of restoring all
customers affected by Hurricane Charley eleven days ago. As of today,
844,100 customers have power, with only 29,900 still to be restored in
the hardest hit areas of Charlotte and DeSoto counties.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040824/245780_1.html>

**Petroleum**

**BP Restarts Texas City Ultraformer - Texas**\
BP Plc restarted an ultraformer damaged in a March 30 explosion and fire
at its Texas City, Texas, refinery, according to a filing with state
environmental regulator the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
The restart, which began Sunday, of the unit at the 470,000 barrel per
day refinery comes after 4-1/2 months of repairs. An ultraformer
produces blending components that boost octane in gasoline. The
ultraformer suffered extensive damage as thousands of gallons of naphtha
burned in the March fire. When the fire occurred, it pushed NYMEX
gasoline above three-year records in overnight ACCESS trading.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040825/energy_bp_texasctiy_1.html>

**Sunoco to Push Up Maintenance at Marcus Hook, Pa.**\
Sunoco Inc. will shut much of its 180,000 barrels per day refinery at
Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 5 for two to three weeks of
maintenance, pushing up the planned turnaround about a month, trading
sources said Tuesday. The work will include the plants gasoline-making
catalytic cracking unit, with capacity of about 93,000 bpd, trading
sources said.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040824/energy_sunoco_refinery_1.html>

**Oil Sheds Nearly \$2/barrel, Led by U.S. Gasoline** Oil prices fell
nearly \$2 a barrel on Wednesday, dragged down by heavy losses in U.S.
gasoline futures after summer driving demand in the world\'s largest
consumer failed to meet expectations. Reuters, 1525 August 25, 2004

# Natural Gas

**Regulators Plan Tests on Pipe at Site of Duke Energy Gas Fire** Texas
oil and natural-gas regulators hope to get a section of pipe for tests
today from a Duke Energy Corp. natural-gas storage facility where a
blast last week sparked a blaze that continues to burn. Workers attached
a vent pipe to the 20-inch pipe that blew, directing heat away from the
work area, Duke spokeswoman Frances Jeter said. \`\`The plan is to
finish removal of the obstruction and equipment\'\' where the pipe exits
the storage cavern \`\`and cut a section off the 20-inch for
metallurgical tests,\'\' said Lance Lunsford, spokesman for the Texas
Railroad Commission, which regulates the state\'s oil and gas
industries. Bloomberg News, 1320 August 25, 2004

**Other**

**Cheney Gives Some Specifics of When Oil Reserve Would Be Tapped**

On Tuesday, the Bush administration indicated it would tap the U.S.
emergency crude oil stockpile if imports of 5 or 6 million barrels per
day, or about half of the nation\'s daily oil and petroleum purchases,
were halted. Vice President Dick Cheney\'s comments during a campaign
appearance in Iowa marked the first time the administration has given a
specific example of the type of emergency that would cause it to tap the
stockpile.

Reuters, 1525 August 25, 2004

**Consol Sets \'Force Majeure\' at Virginia Coal Mine**

Consol Energy Inc. said on Wednesday it had declared \"force majeure\"
at a coal mine in Virginia where a roof collapse resulted in a loss of
production. In a conference call with Wall Street analysts, Peter Lilly,
Consol\'s chief operating officer for coal, said there was a 200,000-ton
production shortfall at the Buchanan mine in southwestern Virginia, near
the town of Oakwood, after the roof collapse in July. Force majeure is
form of legal protection taken when unforseen events impede a company\'s
ability to honor contracts. It was not known which customers were
affected by the measure. The roof collapse was one of several recent
mine problems that prompted Pittsburgh-based Consol to announce on
Wednesday that it expects to report a third-quarter loss rather than the
profit it previously forecast. Reuters, 1401 August 25, 2004

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (8        | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /25/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 43.83     | 47.36     | 31.43      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 5.32      | 5.36      | 5.26       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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)