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

**Office of Electricity Delivery and\
Energy Reliability**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

**December 13, 2005**

## Highlights/Major Developments

**Update: Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma**

For damage assessment and restoration efforts concerning hurricanes, see
the Gulf Coast Hurricanes situation reports from the Office of
Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability (OE) of the U.S. Department
of Energy @
[[http://www.oe.netl.doe.gov]{.underline}](http://www.oe.netl.doe.gov/).
For the latest statistics on shut-in oil and gas production in the Gulf
of Mexico, please click on the following link:
[http://www.mms.gov](http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2005/press1118.htm)

For the latest statistics on shut-in oil and gas production and pipeline
status in Louisiana, please click on the following link:
<http://dnr.louisiana.gov/sec/execdiv/pubinfo/daily-onshore-prod.ssi>

######## Electricity

**Weekend Snow Storm in New England Knocks Out 150,000 Customers\
**Authorities said more than 150,000 people in Cape May and Martha\'s
Vineyard lost power Friday evening during a snow storm. The storm also
closed airports and delayed flights around the Northeast.

<http://www.captialnews9.com/content/top_stories/default.asp?ArID=160212>

**Power Restored in South Dakota From Late November Blizzard**

Utility crews worked on Monday to restore electricity to the last few
farms still without power from an ice storm and blizzard two weeks
earlier. Some experts say the situation could have been much worse. They
say recent improvements in managing the electric grid helped prevent a
major regional blackout. Experts say a blackout was avoided because the
grid management system worked, and because people voluntarily used less
electricity.

<http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2005/12/29_gundersond_miso/>

<http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/power/news_article.cfm?id=6154557>

Public May be Asked to Cut Back on Power Use

With winter approaching and power demands rising, utility and state
officials in Maine reminded residents on Monday that they may be asked
to cut back on energy use in the weeks ahead to avoid rolling blackouts.

<http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/power/news_article.cfm?id=6154845>

### Nevada PUC Approves Sierra Pacific Plan for New 514 MW power Plant

The Nevada Public Utilities Commission approved plans by sierra Pacific
Resources to construct a new 514 MW combined cycle natural gas-fired
power plant near Reno, Nevada. The \$420 million plant is expected to be
in service by June 2008.

Reuters 9:42, December 13, 2005.

### First Unit at Mountain View Comes On-line

Southern California Edison announced that the first of two units at its
new combined cycle gas-fired Mountain View power plant in Redlands,
California entered commercial service by 2:30 pm on December 12. Unit 1
has a capacity of 517 MW, when the facility is fully operational, the
plant will have a capacity of 1,054 MW.

Reuters 21:23, December 12, 2005.

**Missouri Air Commission Upholds Air Permit for Coal-fired Unit**

City Utilities of Springfield, Missouri\'s, efforts to build another
coal-fired power plant got a boost Thursday from the Missouri Air
Conservation Commission. City Utilities is Springfield\'s municipal
utility. The five-member commission unanimously upheld an air permit for
the 300-MW Southwest 2 power plant that had been challenged by the Ozark
Chapter of the Sierra Club.

<http://www.platts.com/Coal/News/6144857.xml?S=n>

**SCE's San Onofre Nuke Unit 3 operating at 87 percent of Capacity
December 12.**

Reuters 16:17 December 12, 2005

**Northern California Power Agency's 246\* MW Collierville Hydro Units 1
& 2 in California Shut December 11**

\*Total MW for both units combined.

Reuters 16:17 December 12, 2005

Calpine's, 301 MW Delta Gas-fired Unit in California Shut December 11

Reuters 16:17 December 12, 2005

NRG/Dynegy's 335 MW El Segundo 4 Gas-fired Unit in California Shut
December 11

Reuters 16:17 December 12, 2005

Constellation's 325 MW High Desert Gas-fired Unit in California Shut
December 11

Reuters 16:17 December 12, 2005

Xcel's 360 MW Harrington 2 Coal-fired Unit in Texas Restarted December
13

The unit shut on December 9.\
Reuters 16:17 December 12, 2005

AES's 335 MW Gas-fired Unit 4 at its Alamitos Facility in California
Shut December 12

Reuters 16:50, December 13, 2005.

Duke's 337 MW Gas-fired Unit 3 at its Morro Bay Facility in California
Shut December 12

Reuters 16:50, December 13, 2005.

SCE's 248 MW Unit 3 at its San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station in
California Shut December 12

Reuters 16:50, December 13, 2005.

######## Petroleum

**Marathon Cuts Rate at St. Paul Refinery on Fire**\
Marathon Petroleum shut one of two crude distillation units (CDU) at its
70,000 b/d St. Paul refinery in Minnesota early on Tuesday due to a fire
that broke out around 6:55 a.m. and with assistance from local emergency
crews was extinguished around 7:40. The company indicated that there
were no injuries and the remainder of the refinery was continuing to
operate.

OPIS Alert, 12:22 December 13, 2005

Reuters 12:55, December 13, 2005

Bloomberg 11:32, December 13, 2005.

**Old Oil Derricks in Los Angeles Return to Life\
**Across southern California roughly 4,000 structures are being brought
back to life - after they were abandoned because of falling oil prices
in the 1980s.

<http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4520910.stm>

Trade Groups Urge EPA to Implement Repeal of Oxygenate Mandate

Five industry trade groups are urging the US Environmental Protection
Agency to quickly issue a final rule to repeal the oxygen-content
requirement for reformulated gasoline. The Energy Policy Act of 2005,
enacted in August, required the elimination of the oxygenate rule
immediately for California and within 270 days for the rest of the
nation. The EPA has indicated that it believes the rule will still be
enforceable unless it takes formal action to repeal it, the trade groups
said. The trade groups urged EPA to issue the rule as soon as possible.
This would provide industry some certainty,\" needed to \"minimize
potential supply impacts.

<http://www.platts.com/Oil/News/6145021.xml?S=n>

######## Natural Gas

**Delta Oil & Gas Provides Operational Update**\
Delta Oil and Gas, Inc. provided an operational update relating to the
Company\'s four natural gas prospects. One of them, Delta\'s Todd Creek
Well located in 13-28-9-2W5 in the Southern Foothills area of Alberta,
Canada is a new natural gas pool discovery with an estimated reserve of
700 MMcf of gas.

<http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/051213/0103766.html>

**Enstor Begins Mining First Cavern for Waha Storage Hub**\
Enstor said Monday that it has started solution mining a salt formation
in West Texas for Phase I of its Waha Gas Storage project. When fully
developed, the storage project is expected to provide 9.5 Bcf of working
gas capacity, 800,000 Dth/d of withdrawal capacity and 450,000 Dth/d of
injection capacity to seven pipelines within three miles of the existing
Waha Hub.

<http://intelligencepress.com/>

**FERC Approves ANR\'s Wisconsin Expansion Project**\
FERC on Monday issued a certificate to ANR Pipeline for the construction
of a pipeline and compression expansion to meet the growing demand for
natural gas supplies in Wisconsin.

<http://intelligencepress.com/>

### Source of Natural Gas Leak Stumps Officials in Oklahoma

The source of a natural gas leak extending for several miles along a
creek in Oklahoma remains a mystery. The leak is strong enough to
produce geysers of muddy water along the creek. Since the only pipeline
in the area appears to have been eliminated as a source, officials are
continuing to investigate but say little can be done about the leaks
until the source is identified.

<http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/gas/news_article.cfm?id=6154636>

### Gas Explosion and Fire Hit Apartment Building in New Jersey

An explosion and fire tore through an apartment building in Bergenfield,
New Jersey on December 13. Police indicated that the blast occurred when
a crew was removing an underground oil tank, which collapsed damaging a
gas line. Between 400 and 500 firefighters, police and other emergency
workers from Bergenfield and nearby areas were called to the site of the
blaze, which continued to burn for several hours.

Reuters 13:43, December 13, 2005.

######## Other News

Nothing to report.

######## Energy Prices 

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (12       | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /13/05)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 61.36     | 59.96     | 41.76      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 15.39     | 13.57     | 7.10       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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 1:00 pm (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*