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

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

**January 29, 2004**

**Highlights / Major Developments**

**UPDATE - Nearly 100,000 Still Powerless from US South Storm**\
Utilities across the U.S. Southeast worked to restore power to nearly
100,000 customers still in the dark on Wednesday after a sweeping ice
and snow storm downed trees and power lines beginning late Monday. As
the storm swept north along the East Coast, more than 400,000 customers
were left powerless. Maryland utility Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. said
it had about 60,000 customers without power in Harford County on the
Maryland-Pennsylvania border due to a heavy ice build-up on two
transmission lines and high winds. SCANA Corp.unit South Carolina
Electric and Gas said about 30,000 of its customers, many near the
state\'s capital of Columbia, remained without power at midday
Wednesday. About 60,000 Progress Energy Inc. Customers in North and
South Carolina were still without power near midday Wednesday, down from
a peak of 93,000 customers out on Tuesday, the company said in a
statement. Duke Energy Corp. unit Duke Power said just under 500 of its
customers in North and South Carolina were without power Wednesday
afternoon, down from about 17,000 out when the storm was at its worst. A
Georgia Power spokeswoman said about 3,700 customers in its service
territory remained without electricity near midday Wednesday, down from
about 90,000 customers out when the storm was at its fiercest. Electric
cooperatives in North Carolina said 3,450 customers across the state
remained without electric service due to the ice, down from 5,400
earlier in the day.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rm/040128/utilities_storm_outages_4.html> Reuters
1015 January 29, 2004

**Electricity**

# Salem 1 Nuke Reduces Output During Maintenance

The PSEG Salem 1 1,150-Megawatt nuclear plant in New Jersey has had its
power reduced to 81 percent to clear away debris from the intake canal
that supplies water to the plant.

Bloomberg 1/29/04 09:56

**DTE\'s Mich. Fermi 2 Nuke Cut to 59 Percent for Work**\
Detroit Edison Energy Co.\'s 1,130 megawatt Fermi 2 nuclear unit in
Michigan was cut to 59 percent power by early Thursday for repairs, a
company spokesman said. Fermi 2 output was reduced Wednesday to repair
an oil leak in a high-pressure turbine bearing system, but operators
also found two small steam leaks, the spokesman said.
<http://biz.yahoo.com/rm/040129/utilities_dte_fermi_1.html> Bloomberg
News, 0931, January 29, 2004

**South Texas 1 Nuke Restarts**

CenterPoint Energy's 1,251 Megawatts South Texas 1 nuclear power plant
was restarted yesterday following a repair to a transformer. An auto
trip in one of the plant's four steam generators late Friday shut the
plant down. It returned to 48% output late yesterday.

Bloomberg 1/28/04

**Vectren's Culley in ECAR Tripped Overnight** The plant was running
near 115 MW early Thursday. Genscape Overnight Report, January 29, 2004

**Xcel\'s Pawnee-Manchief in WECC tripped midday Wednesday** The plant
but has since recovered and is running near 300 MW early Thursday.
Genscape Overnight Report, January 29, 2004

**Bonanza in WECC tripped Wednesday** The power plant remains off early
Thursday. Genscape Overnight Report, January 29, 2004

**Wyodak in WECC tripped late Wednesday** The plant is running near 100
MW early Thursday. Genscape Overnight Report, January 29, 2004

 

**Petroleum**

**Update -- Propane Explosion in New York**

According to Government sources, operations resumed on the Watkins Glen
to Oneonta pipeline and at the Oneonta propane terminal; the Selkirk
terminal is still closed.

**Gulf Mogas Jumps on Downed Gulf Coast FCC Unit at Atofina Refinery**

Most of the cash market trading has been focused on gasoline in the Gulf
Coast. Trading sources tell OPIS that Atofina has taken down an FCC unit
this morning for unplanned maintenance at its 180,000 b/d Port Arthur
refinery. As a result gasoline discounts have been cut in half from
yesterday\'s closing range. OPIS Price Watch Alert 1043 January 29, 2004

# Atofina restarts Texas cat cracker, boiler shut

Atofina restarted a fluid catalytic cracker at its Port Arthur, Texas,
refinery, the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality said Thursday.
The company put the 67,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) gasoline-making unit
into restart on Wednesday, the commission said on its Web site. A small
glitch during restart caused the company to report an air emission. It
was unclear for how long the unit at the 183,000 bpd refinery had been
shut. Atofina also reported it was forced to shut down a boiler at the
refinery due to a leak. Repairs on the boiler are expected to last until
Feb. 2, the Commission said. An Atofina official would not comment on
what he said were \"day to day operations.

Reuters 11:52 29Jan2004

**BP Shuts Refinery Coker**

A coking unit was shut at BP's 247,000 b/d refinery in Carson,
California, gasoline traders said on Tuesday. The shutdown of the unit,
which collects solid carbon waste from the refining process, was seen as
contributing to a 2¢ increase in spot market prices for jet fuel in
California, traders said. Oil Daily, January 29, 2004

# Alon Big Spring refinery to shut 25,000 bpd FCC

Alon USA will shut down the 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) fluid catalytic
cracker at its 60,000 bpd Big Spring, Texas, refinery for maintenance in
10 days, the company said in a notice to regulators on Thursday. Alon
gave a 10-day advance notice of the work to the Texas Natural Resource
Conservation Commission. The notice said the FCC unit needs to be shut
down to address water leaks in the gas steam generator. Company
officials were not immediately available for comment. The Big Spring
refinery uses mainly crude oil from the Permian Basin and is a regional
marketer of gasoline and diesel in West Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.

Reuters 09:34 29Jan2004

**Tanker Loadings Resume at Valdez, Alaska Terminal: Coast Guard**

Crude loadings at the Valdez Marine Terminal in Alaska have resumed
after the harsh weather conditions that forced operations to be
suspended for much of the week eased, the US Coast Guard said Thursday.
Two tankers, the Seabulk Pride and Polar California, began loading
Alaska North Slope crude late

Wednesday night, while two other ships, the SeaRiver Hinchinbrook and
the Polar Resolution, were waiting their turn at the loading docks early
Thursday, a Coast Guard spokesman in Valdez told Platts. High winds and
choppy seas forced the suspension of tanker loadings at the key Valdez
terminal on Sunday, and the terminal remained closed for much of the
week, with the exception of a six-hour window of calmer weather on
Tuesday. The terminal receives ANS crude produced from Prudhoe Bay in
northern Alaska and shipped 800 miles along the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. A
spokesman for TAPs operator Alyeska said Thursday the Valdez delays have
not forced a reduction in the pipeline flow or ANS output. The Valdez
terminal has 9.18-mil bbl of crude storage capacity.
[http://www.platts.com/Oil/News/Tanker%20loadings%20resume%20at%20Valdez,%20Alaska,%20terminal%20Coast%20Guard.xml?p=Oil/News&S=n](http://www.platts.com/Oil/News/Tanker loadings resume at Valdez, Alaska, terminal Coast Guard.xml?p=Oil/News&S=n)

**Natural Gas**

**US Working Gas in Storage Drops 195 Bcf to 2.063 Tcf: EIA**

The US Energy Information Administration on Thursday reported the
largest gas

storage withdrawal of the season \-- a 195-Bcf drawdown for the week
ending Jan

23\. See Natural Gas Weekly Update link at end of this report.
[http://www.platts.com/Natural%20Gas/News/US%20working%20gas%20in%20storage%20drops%20195%20Bcf%20to%202.063%20Tcf%20EIA%20.xml?p=Natural%20Gas/News&S=n](http://www.platts.com/Natural Gas/News/US working gas in storage drops 195 Bcf to 2.063 Tcf EIA .xml?p=Natural Gas/News&S=n)

**Other News\
**

**CFTC Probing Gas Market Spike**

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Wednesday said it was
investigating a spike in US natural gas prices and possible gas market
manipulation during late 2003. Until now, the CFTC refused to confirm it
was conducting such an investigation. The agency said it was probing why
gas futures contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex)
more than doubled in price during a short period starting last November.
In a Jan. 13 briefing with Senate staff, CFTC investigators said they
had found no evidence to indicate that Nymex traders had tried to
manipulate natural gas prices, according

to a Senate aide. The agency did not say if it had found evidence of
illegal activity during the last two weeks since the meeting with the
Senate staff. Traders at Nymex have said natural gas prices shot up
because of colder weather that increased demand for gas as a heating
fuel. However, US inventories of natural gas during December were above
levels from a year earlier and were seen as adequate to meet demand,
according to data from the Energy Information Administration. Oil Daily,
January 29, 2004

# Canada\'s Bruce Power mulls restarting two reactors

Bruce Power, the nuclear power producer in Ontario, said on Thursday it
was studying the restart of its Bruce A units 1 and 2 and might also
consider building one or more new reactors. Bruce Power, owned by a
consortium led by uranium giant Cameco Corp. and TransCanada Pipelines,
said it would also examine the preliminary case for refurbishing its
four Bruce B reactors. More electricity from nuclear power would help
Ontario ease a supply crunch in peak demand periods during the summer
and winter months, when the province imports power at high prices. Bruce
Power said the feasibility study will involve a technical inspection of
the two laid-up Bruce A units and an assessment of how much it would
cost to upgrade them to current standards.

\"If this study concludes there is a sound business case to be made for
expanding Ontario\'s reactor fleet, I can think of no better place to do
it than at Bruce Power,\" Bruce Chief Executive Duncan Hawthorne said in
a statement. Hawthorne suggested about a year ago that he would be open
to restarting Bruce A units 1 and 2 if a proper business case could be
made. At that time, he estimated the cost to be in excess of C\$1
billion (\$752 million). Bruce A units 3 and 4 were recently brought
back online and produce enough electricity to power 500,000 homes,
according to Bruce Power. Both units, which began producing power in the
late 1970s, had been shut down in 1998 by Ontario Hydro, the then
sprawling provincially owned utility company.

Reuters 13:44 29Jan2004

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (1        | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /29/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 32.86     | 35.12     | 33.54      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 5.99      | 6.03      | 5.61       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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)

Last Updated on January 28, 2004

**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)

Last Updated on January 28, 2004

**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)

Last Updated on January 29, 2004