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

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

**February 6, 2004**

**Electricity**

**Ice storm Leaves 64,000 in Dark in U.S. Appalachia**\
Appalachian utilities said Friday they were working to restore electric
service to about 64,000 customers left in the dark following an ice
storm that hit the region on Thursday. A spokesman at Allegheny Energy
Inc. said about 40,000 homes and businesses throughout its five-state
service territory were without power Friday morning. Allegheny Energy,
of Hagerstown, Maryland, serves about 1.5 million customers in West
Virginia, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Maryland. Neighboring Midwest
utility American Electric Power Co Inc., meanwhile, reported it had
24,000 customers without service in West Virginia. AEP, of Columbus,
Ohio, said in a statement on its Web site it did not expect to restore
service to all customers until Sunday evening.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040206/utilities_aep_outages_1.html>

**Power Goes Off in Downtown Portland on Wednesday After Explosion
Outage Lasts Less Than 1 Hour**

Nine downtown buildings were in the dark Wednesday night so crews could
inspect damage after an afternoon explosion. About 1:15 p.m., a
transformer exploded under the sidewalk outside the Smart Park garage at
Southwest Second and Jefferson streets. The underground blast rocked
nearby buildings. Witnesses say a huge fireball came from the concrete
vault. No one was injured in the incident. Portland General Electric cut
the power at 7:08 p.m. to several buildings so crews could safely
inspect the underground switch that failed. The outage last less than an
hour. PGE planned to replace the switch Thursday without further power
interruptions.
<http://www.koin.com/webnews/2004/20040205_explosion.shtml>

**Pacific Intertie Increases Capacity Late Friday, Will Drop Again
Tuesday**

Prices in the Northwest edged higher aided by an expected increase in
southbound capacity on the AC Pacific Intertie to 4,400 MW from 2,950 MW
late Friday, allowing increased opportunities to export electricity out
of the region. The boost should, however, prove shortlived with the AC
line due to be cut back to 3,000 MW on Tuesday morning. With over 10,000
MW of generation capacity still out of service early Friday, the
California/Mexico region is still below 10% in electricity reserves. The
region had 3,240 MW (8.7%) reserves yesterday and an estimated 3,126 MW
(8.8%) today. The Pacific Northwest region had 5,560 MW (11.5%) in
reserve. Reuters 13:35 February 6, 2004

*With ample reserves in the Pacific Northwest and with the main Pacific
intertie line back up later today, there should be no problem moving
additional electricity to CA/Mexico, if needed..*

**Byron 2 Nuke Cuts Power and then Restores it Yesterday**

Exelon Nuclear's 1,150 MW Byron 1 nuclear unit (in Byron Illinois)
reduced power on Thursday to 87% to ease the transmission load after a
malfunction at a substation. The substation was repaired by late in the
evening and the plant then ramped back up to full power. Bloomberg News,
10:18 and 10:38 February 6, 2004

**Dresden 3 Nuke Ramps Back up to Full Power**

Exelon Nuclear's 900 MW Dresden 3 nuclear unit ramped back up to full
power after completing tests to non-nuclear equipment. Bloomberg News,
10:45 February 5, 2004

**Petroleum**

**New US Gasoline Rules May Have Cut Imports - EIA**

New U.S. rules requiring lower sulphur content in gasoline may have
contributed to a decline in imports to the lowest level in more than two
years, an official at the Energy Information Administration of the U.S.
Department of Energy said on Friday. Worries over gasoline supply have
contributed to some of the highest retail gasoline prices ever seen at
the nation\'s pumps in the month of January \-- a time of year when
prices are normally at their lowest. \"There may have been some foreign
refineries that held back on making the investments required to meet the
new regulations,\" EIA analyst Doug MacIntyre said. \"There aren\'t many
other reasons to explain the decline in imports.\" Imports of finished
gasoline dropped to an average of 331,000 barrels per day (bpd) during
the four weeks ended Jan. 30 \-- the lowest four week average recorded
by the DOE\'s statistical wing since Sept. 14 2001.

Reuters, 16:47 February 6, 2004

**U.S. WCoast Diesels Climb on Refiner Buys**

Diesel prices on Friday in the West Coast refined products markets
jumped as refiners continued buying as refineries undergo planned
overhauls, traders said. CARB diesel in Los Angeles jumped 7 cents on
the buy price to \$1.14 a gallon and 4 cents on the offer to \$1.15 a
gallon. CARB diesel in San Francisco was 4 cents below L.A. EPA diesel
in L.A. gained 3 cents on the bid to reach \$1.10 a gallon and 5 cents
on the offer to \$1.13 per gallon. In the Bay, EPA diesel was 4 cents
below L.A.

Reuters, 15:46, February 6, 2004

**Plains All American to Boost Capacity on Basin Crude Pipeline**

Plains All American Pipeline Thursday said it plans to boost by 15% the
capacity of a 345-mil portion of its Basin Pipeline System, which
transports crude from the Permian Basin of West Texas to Cushing,
Oklahoma. The pipeline segment, which runs from Colorado City, Texas, to
Cushing. will boost its

average capacity to some 400,000 b/d from the current 350,000 b/d, said
the company. It said the expansion project primarily involves
reactivation of several pump stations, and that it expects to complete
the project in March, at an estimated cost of \$1.1-mil. Plains All
American said it is also evaluating the potential expansion of the
segment of the Basin system that runs from Midland to Colorado City. The
Basin system moves crude oil from the Permian Basin to markets in the US
Midwest. Plains All American said the Basin

system transported some 301,000 b/d of crude in third-quarter 2003.
Plains All American operates and owns an average 87% interest in the
Basin system.
[http://www.platts.com/Oil/News/Plains%20All%20American%20to%20boost%20capacity%20on%20Basin%20crude%20pipeline.xml?S=n](http://www.platts.com/Oil/News/Plains All American to boost capacity on Basin crude pipeline.xml?S=n)

For additional info see
<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040205/dath046_1.html>

**Natural Gas**

**U.S. FERC to Begin Early Review of Questar Expansion Project** The US
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday agreed to begin
reviewing Questar Pipeline\'s Southern System Expansion project through
its National Environmental Policy Act pre-filing process, which is aimed
at streamlining the application process. The company expects to file a
formal application with the commission in September and is aiming for
final approval by May 2005, a spokesman said. The 120,000 Dt/d Utah
expansion would include about 18 miles of new 24-inch-diameter pipeline
and two new compressor stations. On Feb 10, the company will hold an
open house for public comment to be used in preparing an environmental
assessment of the project.
http://www.platts.com/Natural%20Gas/News/US%20FERC%20to%20begin%20early%20review%20of%20Questar%20expansion%20project.xml?p=Natural
Gas/News&S=n

**Other News**

**Oil Eases as Venezuela Threat Recedes**\
World oil prices eased on Friday as a strike threat in major oil
producer Venezuela was lifted, traders said. But they said low energy
inventories in the United States and next week\'s OPEC meeting to decide
second quarter crude supplies would keep a floor under the market.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/040206/markets_oil_2.html>

**US Fire Administration Critical Infrastructure Protection Guide Now
Available.** A new document that provides a comprehensive guide for all
fire and emergency services is now available. Prepared by the Emergency
Management and Response-Information Sharing and Analysis Center
(EMR-ISAC) to promote critical infrastructure protection, the Fire and
Emergency Services Preparedness Guide for the Homeland Security Advisory
System offers suggestions for activities that may be appropriate for the
five Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS) Levels. Within this guide,
the emergency response leadership will find recommended preparedness
measures for each HSAS Threat Condition. Therefore, the contents of the
document should assist the heads of the fire and emergency medical
services with the development and implementation of appropriate
department or agency-specific preparedness measures. A complete copy of
the guide can be seen and downloaded from the following link:
<http://www.usfa.fema.gov/fire-service/cipc/cipc-jobaid.shtm>\
Source: [http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?section
Id=46&id=25691](http://cms.firehouse.com/content/article/article.jsp?sectionId=46&id=25691)

**OPEC Hands Tied**

Opec ministers head to Algiers to review fundamentals and production
policy with their hands tied. Several are concerned about a market
meltdown come the spring, when demand is expected to slump. But they
know it would be politically unpalatable to oil-consuming countries to
cut their production ceiling when oil prices are high and crude oil
stocks in the US are near their lowest levels in three decades. Energy
Intelligence, Energy Compass, February 6, 2004

**Electric Utility Con Edison Finds 110 Sites Juiced with Stray
Voltage** Con Edison has found 110 hot spots electrified with stray
voltage \-- including five surging with more than twice the volts that
killed a Manhattan woman walking her dogs last month. Each of the five
most troubled spots \-- three in Manhattan, one in Brooklyn and one in
Westchester \-- registered a little more than 120 volts, Con Ed
spokesman Joe Petta said. The discovery comes halfway through Con Ed\'s
inspection of its 250,000 manhole covers and service box lids. Of the
110 electrified spots, 72 percent were measured at below 50 volts, Con
Ed said
[http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5EZhhfnwqkTSigy30qbfej%5Bv](http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp^ZhhfnwqkTSigy30qbfej%5Bv)

**Nigeria Court Clears Way for Possible Fuel Strike**

A Nigerian court cleared the way for a possible general strike over fuel
taxes on Friday by dismissing a government suit against the umbrella
trade union. Reuters, 10:450 February 6, 2004

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (         | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | 2/6/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 32.49     | 33.16     | 34.36      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 5.38      | 5.80      | 6.08       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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