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

**Office of Energy Assurance**

**ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY**

**February 15, 2005**

**Electricity**

### Blown Transformer Causes Two Power Outages A blown transformer set off two power outages that left approximately 19,000 AEP-Texas customers without electricity Monday afternoon. The first outage occurred around 1:30 p.m. when a transformer at the substation near Lincoln Avenue and Dixieland Road caught fire, leaving approximately 7,500 customers without power. The damaged transformer caused a second outage that left about 11,500 customers in the San Benito area without power. The cause of the fire is yet to be determined. Power was restored to the Harlingen area by 2:40 p.m. and San Benito by 3 p.m.* *[**http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=%22power+outage%22+OR+outage+%2B+electricity&ei=UTF-8&n=10&fl=0&sday=25&eday=24&datesort=1&x=wrt**](http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p="power+outage"+OR+outage+%2B+electricity&ei=UTF-8&n=10&fl=0&sday=25&eday=24&datesort=1&x=wrt)  Power Outage in Annapolis Monday **The State House was without power for more than two-and-a-half hours Monday evening. BG&E says equipment failure at the Cedar Park substation in Anne Arundel County led to the outage shortly after 4 p.m. Power was restored at the State House by 6:45 p-m, and to all the 12,000 affected customers by 7 p.m.** [**http://wjz.com/localstories/local_story_045164159.html**](http://wjz.com/localstories/local_story_045164159.html)

### South Texas Nuclear Unit 2 Repairs Completed Repairs at the South Texas Project Unit 2 nuclear reactor, which shut down Feb. 9 because of a leak in its cooling-water system, were completed over the weekend. The 1,250-megawatt unit, located 90 miles (145 kilometers) southwest of Houston, remained idle today. A timetable for its return to service is not yet available. Bloomberg News, 1609 February 15, 2005

# Update \-- Entergy\'s Grand Gulf Nuclear Reactor Powers up to 56 Percent

In Mississippi, Entergy\'s Grand Gulf nuke ramped up to 56 percent of
capacity by early Tuesday after exiting an outage earlier in the week.
The unit shut on Feb. 11 due to the loss of an electrical bus. Earlier
on Friday, it was operating at full power. The Grand Gulf station is
located in Port Gibson in Claiborne County about 130 miles north of
Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Reuters 13:27, February 15, 2005

**San Onofre Nuclear Plant In California Taken Off-Line February 15,
2005**

The 1,070 megawatt Unit 2 at the San Onofre nuclear plant in California
was taken off-line on Tuesday to inspect and possibly perform
maintenance on a valve.

Reuters 1349, February 15, 2005

# 

# NRG/Dynegy's 330 MW Encina 5 Gas-Fired Unit in CA Shut Down February 15

Reuters 13:49, February 15, 2005

# USBR's 322 MW Hoover Hydro Unit in Nevada Shut Down February 15

# Reuters 13:49, February 15, 2005

# 

**Duke's 222 MW Southbay 4 Gas-Fired Unit in California Shut Down
February 15**

Reuters 13:49, February 15, 2005

**Petroleum**

**Meraux Problems Could Be Boosting Gulf Diesel Values\
**Firmer Gulf Coast distillate differentials are being attributed in
part to a loss of power over the weekend to Murphy Oil\'s 125,000 b/d
refinery in Meraux, La. Reports are that boiler problems resulting from
the\
outage could keep the plant from resuming normal operations for a total
of 24 to 48 hours.\
OPIS Price Watch Alert, 1555 February 14, 2005

**Pennsylvania Pipeline Restarts After Jan. 27 Fire**

The Exxon Mobil Corp. oil products pipeline near Allentown,
Pennsylvania, which leaked and caught fire Jan. 27 in eastern
Pennsylvania, resumed operations over the weekend. The line runs from
the Valero Energy Corp. 170,000 -barrels-per-day refinery in Paulsboro,
New Jersey, to Buffalo, New York.

Reuters 1033, February 15, 2005

**Sunoco Restarts 60,000 Bpd Catalytic Cracker at Philadelphia Refinery
After Fire**

Sunoco Inc. restarted a fire-downed catalytic cracker at its
Philadelphia refinery late last week after a two alarm fire shut the
60,000 barrel per day gasoline-making cracker on Jan. 25.

Reuters 1206, February 15, 2005

**Update -**- **Russia\'s Novo CPC Terminal Reopens**

Russia\'s main Black Sea port and oil terminals of Novorossiisk reopened
on Tuesday after strong winds and a high swell had suspended loadings.
The ports had shut on Sunday after reopening last Thursday following a
week-long closure. Novorossiisk exports around one million barrels per
day (bpd).

Reuters 14:03, February 15, 2005

**Natural Gas**

## ConocoPhillips Gets Green Light for Corocoro Project

The government of Venezuela and US oil major ConocoPhillips have finally
resolved their differences over the development of the Corocoro field in
eastern Venezuela, according to state oil giant Petroleos de Venezuela
(PDV). Separately, the governments of Venezuela and Brazil signed a
memorandum of understanding Monday for joint development of the
much-delayed Mariscal Sucre offshore natural gas project.\
Oil Daily, February 15, 2005

**Company Proposes Building Offshore LNG Terminal in Massachusetts**\
The operator of a liquefied natural gas depot in Everett, Mass., said
Monday that it will pursue the development of a \$900 million offshore
LNG terminal near Gloucester.\
<http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/gas/news_article.cfm?id=5472284>

**Other News**

Nothing to report.

**Energy Prices**

+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
|                               | **Latest  | **Week    | **Year     |
|                               | (02       | Ago**     | Ago**      |
|                               | /15/05)** |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **CRUDE OIL**                 | 47.30     | 45.20     | 34.51      |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **West Texas Intermediate     |           |           |            |
| US**                          |           |           |            |
|                               |           |           |            |
| \$/Barrel                     |           |           |            |
+-------------------------------+-----------+-----------+------------+
| **NATURAL GAS**               | 6.01      | 5.95      | 5.62       |
|                               |           |           |            |
| **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