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

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

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

**August 11, 2005**

######## Electricity

**WP&L Sets Electricity Demand Record**

Wisconsin Power & Light Company, a subsidiary of Alliant Energy,
reported a new record set for electricity use at about 4 p.m. August 10,
when customers used about 2,830 megawatts of electricity, nine megawatts
above the previous record set last week.

<http://www.gazetteextra.com/alliant081005.asp>

**21,500 Com Ed Customers Lost Power in Illinois Due to Fire at
Substation**

Approximately 11,000 customers remained without power this morning after
losing power yesterday due to a fire at a power substation in Darien,
Illinois. Power is expected to be restored tonight.

<http://www.nbc5.com/news/4836579/detail.html?rss=chi&psp=news>

**BPA Transmission Lines Shut Down Due to Fire Late Wednesday**

A wildfire propelled by gusty winds in western Montana brushed under
Bonneville Power Administration transmission lines late on August 10,
causing a major line to the West Coast to shut down. No disruptions
occurred and none are expected since BPA is able to reroute the flow of
electricity without major difficulty.

<http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050811/NEWS01/508110308/1002>

**Closer Cooperation and Coordination Help Grid Operators Meet
Unprecedented Demand for Electric Power**

Daily conference calls, interregional operating agreements, and improved
coordination have helped grid operators in the Eastern Interconnection,
encompassing nearly all of the area east of the Rockies, to meet
unprecedented demand for electricity with relatively few problems so far
this summer.

<http://www.energycentral.com/centers/news/daily/article.cfm?aid=5870608>

<http://www.pjm.com/contributions/news-releases/2005/20050810-cooperation-among-electric-grid-operators.pdf>

### Texas Genco's 560 MW Coal-Fired WA Parish Unit 7 in TX Back Soon

According to a report filed with Texas regulators, the 560 MW Unit 7
will be restarted August 11-12 following boiler tube repairs.

Reuters 7:45 August 11, 2005

### Update-Dominion Resources 917 MW North Anna 2 Nuke in VA at 100 Percent August 11

According to a Nuclear Regulatory Commission report, the 917 MW North
Anna 2 was back at full power early today. The unit tripped on August 5
due to a lightning strike and was exiting the outage over the weekend.

Reuters 7:19 August 11, 2005

**Brunswick Unit 1 Returns to Service**

The 895 MW unit 1 at the Brunswick nuclear generating station of
Progress Energy returned to service and had ramped up to 35 percent of
capacity by the morning of August 11. The company announced that unit 2
would remain shut for a few days longer.

Bloomberg 11:08, August 11, 2005.

**OPG's 494 MW Lambton 3 Coal-Fired Facility in Ontario Shut August 11**

Reuters 13:57 August 11, 2005

**DTE's 260 MW LaPaloma 2 Gas-Fired Facility in California Shut August
11**

Reuters 14:20 August 11, 2005

######## Petroleum

### NYMEX Crude Hits New High 

WTI futures contract prices hit another all-time high surpassing \$66
per barrel by the middle of the day as concerns about supply and
refinery problems continued to affect the market. September WTI closed
down slightly from the high on the day at \$65.89.

Reuters 12:20, August 11, 2005.

**NYMEX Gasoline Hits New High**

Driven by increased demand and continuing refinery problems, the futures
price of gasoline rose to an all-time high for the third day this week,.
The NYMEX price climbed by more than five cents to \$1.9498 per gallon,
the highest price since the origin of the gasoline contract in 1984.

Bloomberg 15:30, August 11, 2005.

**BP Shuts Additional Units at Texas City for Inspection**

According to media reports, in the wake of numerous problems BP has shut
all of the high pressure units at its 460,000 b/d Texas City refinery so
that the units can be inspected.

Reuters 10:36, August 11, 2005.

**ConocoPhillips Wood River refinery Hit by Power Outage**

ConocoPhillips' 306,000 b/d Wood River in Illinois was hit by a power
outage during a thunderstorm late in the afternoon of August 8. Several
units were affected and the company is in the process of restoring power
to the refinery. The company declined to provide an estimate as to when
operations would return to normal.

Reuters 11:58, August 11, 2005.

**Supply from OPEC Rose by 285,000 b/d in July**

According the the IEA, OPEC supplied 285,000 b/d more crude oil during
July than had been the case in June: 29.6 million barrels per day versus
29.32 million.

Reuters 4:00, August 11, 2005.

**Natural Gas**

### 

# Spot Natural Gas Hits 2 Year High

Continued hot weather pushed both spot and futures prices for natural
gas higher once again. The Henry Hub spot price closed at 9.29 a two
year high, the spot price has gained some 17 percent in the past seven
sessions. The futures price on the NYMEX closed at \$9.38.

Reuters 13:58, August 11, 2005.

# CenterPoint to Replace Faulty Pipe in 37 Communities

Following a fatal explosion in Minnesota in December 2004, CenterPoint
Energy is replacing gas lines in some 37 communities in the state. The
company has thus far replaced approximately 9,000 lines in 20
communities of the 32,000 lines it will eventually replace.

<http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/12355744.htm>

<http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/gas/news_article.cfm?id=5870348>

### TransCanada Considers Converting Its Natural Gas Mainline to Oil Pipeline

### As part of its proposed 1,870 mile Keystone oil pipeline project from Alberta to Illinois, TransCanada Corporation is considering converting a 770-mile section of its natural gas mainline from near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border to transport oil.

### [**http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5D%5BefhjonoWTebt%3EEvbfek%5Cv**](http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8kowu%5D%5BefhjonoWTebt>Evbfek\v)

######## Other News

# Ground Broken on world's Largest Biodiesel Plant

Ground was broken on August 10, 2005 on Cargill's new Biodiesel plant in
Iowa Falls, Iowa. The new plant will produce 37.5 million gallons of
fuel annually, making it the largest such facility in the world. The
company expects production to begin in April of 2006.

Sources: Cargill, Charles City Press

<http://www.cargill.com/news/news_releases/050608_biodiesel.htm>

<http://www.charlescitypress.com/articles/2005/08/11/news/local_news/news03.txt>

### Ohio River Reopened to Limited Traffic

The Coast Guard has reopened a section of the Ohio River that had been
closed since the night of August 7 when low-water caused four vessels
and their barges to run aground. Because of the low level of water, the
Coast Guard is restricting traffic until a dredging project on a section
of about six miles near the Mississippi River can be completed. The area
is suffering from the worst drought since 1988.

Reuters 13:22, August 11, 2005.

######## Energy Prices 

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (08       | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /11/05)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 65.67     | 61.60     | 44.72      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 9.29      | 8.55      | 5.64       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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/)