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

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

###### July 23, 2004

**Electricity**

**Update \-- ComEd Restores Service After Severe Storms Rip Through
Chicago Area**\
After an intensive two-day effort, ComEd restored power to nearly all
250,000 customers affected by consecutive days of torrential storms that
caused extensive damage to ComEd\'s system. As of 1 p.m. Friday, ComEd
crews were working to restore service to the few hundred customers that
remained without power.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040723/cgf032_1.html>

## Update \-- AEP Power Outages The number of area residents still without electricity in the wake of Wednesday\'s severe storm is down to a few thousand. As of 10:15 a.m. EDT Friday, American Electric Power said only 6,400 customers remained without power, compared to the more than 36,000 who lost their electricity at the peak of the storm. Of those 6,400, 3,900 were from the Buchanan area and the remainder from the South Bend, Elkhart and Three Rivers areas. In the city of Niles, only a few of the 8,000 customers of the Niles Utilities Department were still without electricity Friday. The number also had dwindled considerably in southern Cass County, with just 31 customers of Midwest Energy still without electricity. 

<http://www.southbendtribune.com/breakingnews/posts/1399.html>

**Calif. Ormond Beach 775 MW Unit 2 Taken Off-line**\
The 775 megawatt Unit 2 at the Ormond Beach gas-fired plant in southern
California was off-line early Friday, the California Independent System
Operator said in a posting on its web site. The ISO, which manages most
of the state\'s power grid, said the outage was unplanned. T
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040723/utilities_reliant_ormond_1.html>

**Update \-- AEP\'s Texas Welsh 3 Plant Starts to Exit Outage**\
American Electric Power Co Inc.'s 528 megawatt Welsh 3 coal-fired power
plant in Texas started up on Thursday following a forced outage,
according to a report from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation
Commission. <http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040723/utilities_aep_welsh_3.html>

**Texas Genco 766-MW Limestone 2 to Shut Friday** - Texas Genco will
shut its 766-megawatt coal-fired Unit 2 at its Limestone Electric
Generating Station on Friday to repair a boiler tube leak, according to
a company filing on the website of the Texas Commission for
Environmental Quality.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040723/utilities_centerpoint_limestone_1.html>

# PSEG's Salem 2 Nuke Ramps Up to 50% Power Capacity

# PSEG's 1,1150 Megawatt Salem 2 nuclear unit is up to 50% power from only 22% power from the previous report. The plant was reconnected to the grid at 1:40 a.m. this morning, following maintenance to a steam generator. 

# Bloomberg News, July 23, 2004

**PSEG\'s N.J. Salem 2 Nuke Up to 40 Percent Power**\
PSEG Power\'s 1,150 megawatt Salem 2 nuclear unit in New Jersey was at
40 percent power early Friday, up from 22 percent of capacity on
Thursday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its power
reactor status report. The unit, in Salem, New Jersey, had been reduced
to about 22 percent to repair a hydraulic leak in the turbine, a
spokesman for PSEG\'s parent Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. had
said previously.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040723/utilities_pseg_salem_1.html>

**Construction Begins on Palomar Energy Project** Escondido Mayor Lori
Holt Pfeiler, California Energy Commission Chairman William Keese and
Sempra Energy President and Chief Operating Officer Donald E. Felsinger
today hosted the groundbreaking for Palomar Energy, a state-of-the-art
natural gas-fueled 550-megawatt power plant in Escondido, Calif.   
<http://public.sempra.com/newsreleases/viewpr.cfm?PR_ID=1735&Co_Short_Nm=SE>

**Petroleum**

[**PIW Scorecard: Opec Prices At 24-Year
Peak**](http://www.energyintel.com/DocumentDetail.asp?document_id=126866)\
Underscoring the strength of global oil markets, Opec producers are
selling more crude at higher prices than at any time in the last 24
years, without any significant easing of their term contract pricing
formulas. Saudi Arabia, like other producers, has made only minor
adjustments, with no significant easing of price levels needed to move
more crude. As a result, Saudi Arabian Light cost US refiners \$33-\$38
per barrel in the second quarter, according to Petroleum Intelligence
Weekly's latest price scorecard. Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, July 26,
2004

**Atofina Texas Refinery Is Started After Power Failure**

Atofina Petrochemicals Inc, restored production after a lightning
strike-related power loss Thursday afternoon at its Port Arthur, Texas,
refinery. Capacity was restored within two hours according to an Atofina
spokesman. The refinery, the only one Atofina operates in the U.S., can
process 240,000 barrels of crude oil and other petroleum components a
day.

Bloomberg News, 1317 July 23, 2004

# 

# 

# Natural Gas

**Michigan Public Service Commission Grants Authority to W.C. Pipeline
Co., Don Yohe Enterprises, and Merit Pipeline Company to Construct and
Operate Pipelines**
<http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/gas/news_article.cfm?id=5003570>

**Other**

#### Canadian Rotary Drilling Rig Count Up 139, U.S. up 5 from Last Week

The count of Canadian rigs from Baker Hughes company went up
dramatically last week from 241 to 390. For more information on the
actual counts of rigs in Canada, the United States, or internationally,
see the spreadsheets updated weekly on the Baker Hughes web site.
<http://www.bakerhughes.com/investor/rig/index.htm>

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (7        | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /23/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 41.83     | 41.10     | 30.13      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 5.98      | 5.77      | 4.88       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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