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

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

**December 9, 2004**

**Electricity**

**Summer Nuclear Plant in South Carolina Returning to Service**

Scana Corp.\'s 966-megawatt Summer nuclear plant in Summer, South
Carolina, began producing power at 7 a.m. today after disconnecting from
the grid Dec. 6 to replace a leaking turbine steam line. The reactor is
currently operating at 30 percent of capacity and should reach full
power tonight, said Brian Duncan, a spokesman for the Columbia, South
Carolina-based company.\
Bloomberg News, 0848 December 9, 2004

**Update \-- DTE's Fermi 2 Nuke Returns to Full Power**

Reuters, 1331 December 9, 2004

**OPG\'s Pickering 4 Nuke in Ontario Returns to Service**\
Reuters, 1331 December 9, 2004

**Key U.S. West Power Link Returns to Service**

The DC Intertie, a key power transmission link between the Pacific
Northwest and southern California, returned to service this week and
should be back at full load in a couple of weeks, an official with the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power said on Thursday. \"We turned
over the project to the operations center yesterday (Wednesday) with a
partial load of up to 1,500 megawatts. We expect in two weeks we might
release it for normal operations,\" said John Schumann, Director of
Power System Planning and Projects for the LADWP. The line, which has a
maximum capacity of about 3,100 megawatts and is one of two major
transmission links between the Northwest and California, was taken down
in October for a \$118 million modernization project and was not
scheduled to return to service until the beginning of 2005. Reuters,
1250 December 9, 2004

# 

# Harness Winds of Change; New Lines Planned to Carry Clean Power

Southern California Edison is proposing to run new 500,000-volt lines
between west Lancaster, Valencia, Acton and Tehachapi to serve a huge
expansion of Antelope Valley wind-energy farms.
<http://www.energycentral.com/centers/news/daily/article.cfm?aid=5326291>

**Petroleum**

**Hurricane Ivan Petroleum Production Shut-in Statistics**

Shut-in oil production is equivalent to 8.93% of daily production of oil
in GOM, which is approximately 1.7 million BOPD.  The 151,777 barrels
per day that is currently shut-in is approximately 0.77% of the 19.7
million barrels consumed in the U.S. each day. The cumulative shut-in
oil production for the period 9/11/04-12/09/04 is 34,284,798 bbls, which
is equivalent to 5.667% of the yearly production of oil in the GOM which
is approximately 605 million barrels.

[*http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2004/press1209.htm*](http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2004/press1209.htm)

**Quebec Caves to Public Opposition, Drops Plan to Build 800-MW Plant\
**Bowing to public opposition, Quebec has scrapped a plan by
province-owned Hydro-Quebec to build an 800-MW, gas-fired combined-cycle
plant. Quebec also said the utility had made progress in securing other
sources of incremental power.\
[*http://www.platts.com/Magazines/POWER/Power%20News/2004/120804_7.xml*](http://www.platts.com/Magazines/POWER/Power News/2004/120804_7.xml)

# Exxon May Shut Calif. Refinery

Exxon Mobil may shut a hydrotreater at the company's 155,000 b/d
refinery in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance, California, sources
familiar with refinery operations told Reuters on Wednesday. The
possible unplanned shutdown of the hydrotreater, which removes sulfur
from crude or distillates, would be to fix

problems that have plagued the unit for a week, the sources said.\
Oil Daily, December 9, 2004

**Official: OPEC to Cut Production Next Year\
**OPEC will cut back on oil production early next year in a bid to stave
off a further decline in the world price, Kuwait\'s oil minister said
Thursday. Asked when the cut in overproduction would be start, Al Sabah
said: \"Everyone has committed for next month, maybe to start from
February.\" He said all members of the 11-nation organization were
committed to fully complying with the current production ceiling and
taking excess oil off the market. Al Sabah estimated OPEC\'s
overproduction at around 1.7 million barrels a day.
<http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=&e=9&u=/ap/20041209/ap_on_bi_ge/opec_meeting_30>

# Natural Gas

**Hurricane Ivan Natural Gas Production Shut-in Statistics\
**Shut-in gas production is equivalent to 4.83% of the daily production
of gas in the GOM, which is approximately 12.3 BCFPD.  The 594.29 MMCF
per day that is currently shut-in is approximately 0.98% of the 60.184
BCF consumed in the U.S. each day.** ** The cumulative shut-in gas
production 9/11/04-12/09/04 is 135.911 BCF, which is equivalent to
3.054% of the yearly production of gas in the GOM which is approximately
4.45 TCF.\
<http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2004/press1209.htm>

**Other News**

Nothing to report.

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (12       | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /09/04)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 42.41     | 43.31     | 31.72      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 6.04      | 6.69      | 6.53       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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