U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Assurance

ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY

February 9, 2005

Electricity

Palo Verde Reactor in Arizona Shuts After Power Loss

Pinnacle West Capital Corp. shut unit 1 at the Palo Verde nuclear generating station in Arizona shut Wednesday after a power source was lost. A schedule hasn't been set for returning the unit to operation, said Sheri Foote, a spokeswoman for Phoenix-based utility. Federal rules require two independent, alternating current power sources to be available, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The two other reactors at the plant, located in Wintersburg, Arizona, about 50 miles west of Phoenix, are operating at capacity.

Bloomberg 12:32, February 9, 2005.

Indian Point 2 Nuclear Reactor in New York Reduces Production

Entergy Corp. reduced power production at its 1,040-megawatt Indian Point unit 2 nuclear generating station in Buchanan, New York, after a control rod inserted itself into the reactor. Plant operators this morning cut production to 73 percent of capacity, said Jim Steets, a spokesman for New Orleans-based Entergy. The plant, located about 40 miles (64 kilometers) north of New York City, will stay at the current output level until the cause of the control-rod insertion is determined, he said.

Bloomberg 09:08, February 9, 2005.

Peach Bottom Unit 2 Up To 94% of Capacity

Exelon Corp’s unit 2 at its Peach Bottom nuclear generating station ramped up to 94 percent of capacity by early Wednesday, up from 64 percent early Tuesday following a rod pattern exchange.

Bloomberg 09:07, February 9, 2005.

San Onofre Unit 2 Up To 97% of Capacity

Edison International's unit 2 at its San Onofre nuclear generating station in Southern California was operating at 97 percent of capacity early Wednesday, according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's daily plant status report. The unit is in the process of ramping back up after tripping off-line on February 3 due to an electrical fault. The 1,070 MW facility is one of two units at the San Clemente, California, plant, located about 50 miles north of San Diego.

Bloomberg 09:07, February 9, 2005.


Dominion Va. Surry 1 Nuke Starts To Exit Outage

Dominion Resources Inc.'s 810-megawatt unit 1 at the Surry nuclear station in Virginia started to exit an outage and ramped up to 7 percent of capacity by early Wednesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its power reactor status report. The unit shut on Feb. 4 to fix a non-radioactive water leak in one of the heat exchangers in the plant's turbine building. On Feb. 7, the company stopped an attempted startup of the plant due to a misaligned control rod. The 1,625 MW Surry station is located in the town of Gravel Neck in Surry County about 45 miles northwest of Norfolk, Virginia.

Reuters 07:28, February 9, 2005.

TXU Restarts Texas Monticello Unit 2

Dallas-based TXU Corp. restarted the 565-megawatt unit 2 at its Monticello coal-fired station in Texas on February 8 following an outage that occurred earlier in the day, the energy company told Texas regulators in a report. The company said the boiler tripped during tuning of the boiler controls. The 1,880 MW Monticello station is located in the town of Mount Pleasant in Titus County about 250 miles north of Houston.

Reuters 08:21, February 9, 2005.

AES’s 206 MW Huntington Beach Gas-Fired Unit 1 In California Shutdown Feb. 9.

Reuters 14:28, February 9, 2005.

Intergen’s 315 MW La Rosita Gas-Fired Unit 2 In Baja Mexico, Shutdown 5 Feb. 9.

Reuters 14:28, February 9, 2005.

Petroleum

ConocoPhillips Ponca City FCC Down For Work

ConocoPhillips took down a fluid catalytic cracker for unplanned maintenance on Sunday at its 197,000-barrel-per-day refinery in Ponca City, Oklahoma, trade sources said Wednesday. The unit was expected to come back up on Sunday. The refinery has a cat-cracking capacity of 65,000 barrels per day.

Reuters 14:30, February 9, 2005.

Statoil's Oil Fields Resume Production
Two offshore oil fields are now producing at about 85 percent of capacity after being shut down more than two months ago by a natural gas leak, Statoil said Wednesday. However, their combined production is now about 175,000 barrels per day, or nearly 15 percent below their average crude flow before the accident, the state-controlled company said. Snorre A and the nearby Vigdis field were shut down Nov. 28 when the natural gas leak forced the evacuation of 180 crew members. Statoil said Vigdis was producing at its full 75,000 barrel per day capacity, while the Snorre A daily flow was down to 100,000 barrels, or about 30,000 barrels below its capacity before the gas blow-out.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050209/norway_statoil_3.html

Kinder Shuts Calif. Pipe, Ships Fuel On Parallel Line

Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP has shut a pipeline supplying jet fuel to the San Francisco and Oakland airports after a leak was discovered, a company spokesman said on Wednesday. Jet fuel was being shipped to the airports via a smaller, parallel line that normally carries gasoline and diesel fuels to terminals south of San Francisco, said spokesman Rick Rainey. The duration of the pipeline's shutdown was unknown, Rainey said. The leak has been temporarily plugged. Gasoline and diesel terminals south of San Francisco are well stocked, he said.

Reuters 13:30, February 9, 2005.


Houston Ship Channel Traffic Set To Resume

Traffic is scheduled to resume moving along the Houston Ship Channel at 9 a.m. CST on Wednesday, after being halted since Tuesday evening by dense sea fog, according to the Houston ship pilot association. Ship traffic along the 53-mile waterway to the busiest U.S. petrochemical port was shut at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, according to Houston Pilots, as the ship pilot association formally calls itself.

Reuters 09:13, February 9, 2005.

TransCanada Proposes Keystone Oil Pipeline Project
TransCanada Corporation on Wednesday announced it is proposing a US$1.7 billion oil pipeline project to transport approximately 400,000 barrels per day of heavy crude oil from Alberta to Illinois.

Transporting oil from Hardisty, Alberta to markets at Wood River and Patoka, Illinois, the proposed Keystone Pipeline would be about 1,870 miles in length. In addition to new pipeline construction, it would require the conversion of 770 miles of one of the lines in TransCanada's existing multi-line Alberta and Mainline natural gas pipeline systems in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. TransCanada's other existing pipelines will continue to transport Western Canada's natural gas to markets in Canada and the United States.

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/050209/95463_1.html

Natural Gas

Mexican Official Sees Competition Ruling LNG Sites

As natural gas companies vie to supply fuel to the Baja California and California markets, Mexico's top environmental official says his agency will not limit the number of receiving terminals that are built. "The market itself will regulate the situation," said Alberto Cardenas Jimenez, head of Mexico's Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources, or Semarnat, during a swing through Baja California last week. So far, two projects, by Sempra Energy and ChevronTexaco, have received permits to build facilities along the Baja California coast. Semarnat is considering a third application for a floating terminal off the coast of Rosarito Beach by a partnership between Moss Maritime and Terminales y Almacenes Martimos de Mexico.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20050208-9999-1b8lng.html

Other News

Nothing to Report

Energy Prices

Latest (02/09/05) / Week Ago / Year Ago
CRUDE OIL
West Texas Intermediate US
$/Barrel / 45.45 / 46.65 / 34.02
NATURAL GAS
Henry Hub
$/Million Btu / 6.20 / 6.38 / 5.51

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