U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Assurance

ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY

February 10, 2005

Electricity

South Texas Reactor Shuts Down for Cooling-Water Leak

The South Texas Project Unit 2 nuclear reactor shut yesterday to repair a cooling-water leak. A repair plan and schedule are being developed, plant spokesman Alan Mikus said. The twin Unit 1 is currently operating at 98 percent of capacity, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Bloomberg 13:25, February 10, 2005

Sempra’s Mexicali Plant Returns to Service

Sempra’s 600 MW Mexicali gas-fired plant in Baja California, Mexico, returned to service early Thursday, the California Independent System Operator said in a report. The unit had shut the prior day for unplanned reasons.

Reuters 14:07, February 10, 2005.

Intergen’s La Rosita Unit 2 Returns to Service.

Intergen’s 315 MW Central La Rosita plant in Baja California returned to service on Thursday after an unplanned outage.

Reuters 14:07, February 10, 2005.

Dominion Surry 1 Exits Outage

Dominion Resources Inc.'s 810-megawatt unit 1 at the Surry nuclear station in Virginia exited an outage and ramped up to full power by early Thursday, up from 7 percent on Wednesday. The unit shut on Feb. 4 to fix a water leak in one of the heat exchangers on the non-nuclear side of the plant in the turbine building. On Feb. 7, the company stopped the startup of the plant due to a misaligned control rod.

Reuters 13:28, February 10, 2005.

Petroleum

Oil prices surge

Oil prices jumped Thursday as the International Energy Agency said faster-than-expected demand and disappointing world supply growth threatened to keep the strain on world supplies. The IEA's monthly Oil Market Report cut its forecasts for non-OPEC supply growth on lower expectations from Russia where supply has boomed in recent years and ongoing problems in other non-OPEC producers. IEA believes that the situation threatens to maintain the supply strain that fueled last year's 34 percent oil price rise. Light crude for March delivery was $1.19 higher at $46.65 a barrel following the report. London Brent crude was up 89 cents at $44.02.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050210/norway_oil_production_1.html

Athabasca Oil Sands Says Repairs Completed, Project Back At Full Production

The Athabasca Oil Sands Project in northern Alberta is producing synthetic crude at capacity volumes following repairs to its upgrading plant. For most of the fourth quarter of last year, the plant produced at about 70 percent of its capacity of 155,000 barrels a day, Western Oil Sands said on Thursday.

Reuters 13:39, February 10, 2005.

Canadian Natural kicks off $8.7 billion oil sands project

Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. gave the go-ahead for its $8.7 billion oil sands project on Thursday and said its extensive early planning will help avoid painful cost overruns that have plagued the industry. The board of Canadian Natural approved the initial phase of the Horizon project in northern Alberta. Under phase one, Canadian Natural will produce 110,000 barrels of synthetic crude a day starting in 2008. When all planned stages are running by 2012, output will total 232,000 barrels a day.

Reuters 12:54, February 10, 2005.

Storms Continue To Prevent Shipments From Russian Oil Port: Pipeline Halted

Crude exports from Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk have been at a standstill in the past week due to stormy weather and pipeline operator Transneft has been forced to halt pumping to the port, shipping sources said on Thursday. One source reported that "there have been no exports since Feb 4 from either Novorossiisk or (nearby) CPC terminals." More than 20 vessels were waiting at both ports, the source added.

Reuters 06:02: February 10, 2005.

Natural Gas

TEPPCO to Expand Jonah Gathering to 1.5 Bcf/d by December

With throughput on the Jonah Gas Gathering System in southwestern Wyoming averaging near capacity at 1 Bcf/d in the fourth quarter of 2004, TEPPCO Partners LP has announced plans for a $122 million expansion project that will loop the system and add about 500 MMcf/d of new capacity by December.

Natural Gas Intelligence (Feb. 9, 2005)

Other News

Nothing to Report

Energy Prices

Latest (02/10/05) / Week Ago / Year Ago
CRUDE OIL
West Texas Intermediate US
$/Barrel / 47.05 / 46.40 / 34.20
NATURAL GAS
Henry Hub
$/Million Btu / 6.21 / 6.32 / 5.69

Source: Reuters

This Week in Petroleum from the Energy Information Administration (EIA)

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

Updated after 1:00pm (Eastern time) on Wednesdays

Natural Gas Weekly Update from EIA

http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/ngw/ngupdate.asp

Updated after 2:00 pm (Eastern time) on Thursdays