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

**Office of Electricity and\
Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

**March 22, 2005**

**Highlights / Major Developments**

**Sinclair Tulsa Refinery Explodes -- Minimal Impact on Production
Seen**

An explosion at the 75,000 b/d Sinclair refinery in Tulsa occurred at
approximately 4:00 pm Monday afternoon. The explosion of a flare drum in
a gasoline unit at the refinery started a fire that was extinguished
within approximately one hour and caused no injuries. According to fire
officials, the unit was down for maintenance at the time of the
explosion. Sinclair issued a statement on Tuesday that the refinery is
operating and that the company anticipates only minimal impact on
production as a result of the explosion.

Oil Price Information Service, 10:03, March 22, 2005

Oil Price Information Service, 17:56, March 21, 2005

Reuters 10:03, March 22, 2005

Reuters 18:09, 19:08, 19:07, 19:15, March 21, 2005.

**Electricity**

**Spring Winds Leave 20,000 Without Power**

Strong winds, gusting to 40 miles per hour caused more than 20,000
customers in Seattle and around Puget Sound to lose power as branches
crashed into power lines. Outages affected Seattle City Light and Puget
Sound Energy customers and kept crews working into the night to restore
service.

Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer, March 21, 2005.

<http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/216870_weather15.html>

**Palo Verde Unit 1 Ramping Up**

The 1,243 MW Unit 1 at the Palo Verde nuclear generating station in
Arizona returned to service following a shutdown on March 18 to repair a
diesel generator. The unit was reconnected to the grid on Monday
afternoon and is returning to full power according to a representative
of Arizona Public Service.

Bloomberg 9:16, March 22, 2005.

**The California Department of Water Resources' 217 MW Hyatt-Therm Hydro
Plant Shut March 22**

Reuters 14:22, March 22, 2005.

**FPL\'s Turkey Point Unit 4 Shut to Repair Pump**

FPL Group Inc. shut the 760 MW Unit 4 at its Turkey Point nuclear
generating station early Tuesday morning to repair a pump supplying
water to the steam generator. According to a representative of the
company, the repairs will require the unit to be shut "for a few days".
Turkey Point is located approximately 24 miles south of Miami.

Bloomberg 9:00, March 22, 2005.

**Deal Nears for Restart of Bruce Units 1 & 2**

On Monday, Bruce Power announced that it has reached a tentative
agreement with a provincial negotiator for the potential restart of its
units 1 and 2 at Bruce nuclear generating station near Tiverton in
Ontario. The units have been shut since the mid-1990s and have a
capacity of 1,500 MW, about 10 percent of Ontario's market. Federal
regulator must still approve actual restart of the units. When
operational, the two units would replace about 20 percent of the
provinces coal-fired generation capacity. Ontario's policy is to remove
all coal-fired generation by 2007.

Source: Canadian Press Online, March 21, 2005.

<http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/cpress/20050321/ca_pr_on_na/bruce_power_restart_1>

**Constellation Energy's 680 MW Gas-fired High Desert Power Plant Shut
March 22**

Reuters 14:22, March 22, 2005.

**Petroleum**

### EPA Approves Air Quality Permit for New Refinery 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency approved an air quality permit
for a proposed 150,000 b/d refinery to be built in Arizona. Arizona
Clean Fuels has proposed a \$2.5 billion project that would be the first
completely new refinery built in the U.S. in almost 30 years. An
environmental impact study and local land use permits must be approved
and a source of crude oil must be secured before the project can be
undertaken. Barring problems, construction is scheduled to begin in 2006
with the facility in operation in 2009. The refinery is slated to
produce 85,000 b/d of gasoline; 35,000 b/d of diesel fuel; and 30,000
b/d of jet fuel.

Oil Price Information Service, 13:27, March 22, 2005

Oil Daily, March 22, 2005.

**Shell Canada Reduces Scotford Syn Crude Output to Repair Upgrader**

On Tuesday, Shell Canada Ltd. announced that it was shutting one of two
upgrader trains at its Scotford synthetic crude oil facility. According
to Shell Canada, the unit was taken out of service because of
temperature problems and is not expected to return to full operational
status until the end of the month. Shell anticipates a drop about 25
percent in overall output for the month of March as a result of the
outage.

Reuters 11:45, March 22, 2005.

**Natural Gas**

**FERC Grants Request to Review Cheniere Creole Trail LNG Terminal
Proposal**

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted a request by
Cheniere Energy's to begin the pre-filing review of Cheniere's proposed
Creole Trail LNG terminal, and an associated 118-mile pipeline system.

Natural Gas Intelligence, March 21, 2005

[http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5DZlsonmmpUUgc%216%3C%22bfek%5Cv](http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5DZlsonmmpUUgc!6<"bfek\v)

**Kinder Morgan Gets FERC OK for Gas Storage Project**

Kinder Morgan received approval on Tuesday from the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission to increase the capacity of its Sayre natural gas
storage facility in Beckham County, Oklahoma. The facility will be
expanded from 51.1 billion cubic feet to 57.1 bcf. At the same time, the
daily peak withdrawal rate at the site will increase by 50 percent from
400 million cubic feet to 600 mcf per day.

Reuters 11:22, March 22, 2005.

**Other News**

**Bad Weather Grounds Barge No Leaks Reported in Columbia River**

A barge being towed across the Columbia River broke loose and grounded
during a spate of severe weather. According to the Coast Guard, the
barge was essentially empty of product and was not leaking. However the
barge does carry diesel fuel to run on-board equipment. Officials are
awaiting a break in the weather to remove the fuel. The cause of the
accident is under investigation.

Source: Platts Global Alert, March 21, 2005

<http://www.platts.com/Oil/headlines.jsp>

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (03       | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /22/05)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 55.95     | 54.55     | 37.81      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 7.24      | 6.63      | 5.36       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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

**ENSEC threat awareness blog site** from Energy Assurance

[*http://ensec.blogspot.com*](http://ensec.blogspot.com/)