U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Assurance
ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY
November 24, 2004
Electricity
High Winds Cause Power Outages in Houston Area, 200,000 Customers Lose Power
High winds knocked out power for about 200,000 customers in the Houston area overnight although all but 22,000 had service restored by late Wednesday morning, a spokeswoman for CenterPoint Energy said. Stacey Williams, spokeswoman for Houston-based CenterPoint, said the winds first hit Houston late Tuesday night and were continuing on Wednesday. They blew down some transmission lines while others were hit by falling trees.
Reuters, 134 November 24, 2004
TVA's Ala. Browns Ferry 3 Nuclear Unit Shut
The Tennessee Valley Authority's 1,150 megawatt Browns Ferry 3 nuclear unit in Alabama was shut as of early Wednesday due to a problem with one of its turbines, a plant spokesman said on Wednesday. Early Tuesday, the unit was operating at 100 percent of capacity. Operators are continuing to investigate the cause of the problem and are also conducting minor plant maintenance, the spokesman added.
Reuters, 0710 and 1215 November 24, 2004
Wisconsin Energy Point Beach 2 Nuke Up to 1 Pct Power
Wisconsin Energy Corp.'s 517 MW Point Beach 2 nuclear unit in Wisconsin was operating at 1 percent of capacity as of early Wednesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its daily power reactor status report. Early Tuesday, the unit was shut down. The unit had shut on Nov. 19 due to a steam leak on an instrument isolation
valve inside containment.
Reuters, 0721 and 1433 November 24, 2004
Calif. San Onofre 2 Nuclear Unit Nears Full Power
The 1,123 megawatt Unit 2 at the San Onofre nuclear plant in Southern California ramped up to 99 percent of capacity as of early Wednesday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its daily power reactor status report. The unit, which tripped off line on Friday due to a ground on an electrical generator, reached 43 percent power early Tuesday and reconnected to the grid Tuesday afternoon, a plant spokesman told Reuters on Tuesday. Several older, less efficient, gas-fired plants in southern California had been asked by grid operators to temporarily return to service to replace San Onofre supplies.
Reuters, 0745 and 1429 November 24, 2004
Petroleum
Power Outages Could Be Affecting Meraux, Chalmette
There are unconfirmed reports that the 190,200 b/d Chalmette Refining plant in Chalmette, La., and Murphy's 125,000 b/d Meraux, La., refineries suffered a power outages early Wednesday morning. Both were waiting for reliable power to return to restart.
Oil Price Information Service, 1039 and 1305, November 24, 2004
Shell Deer Park's 340,000 bpd refinery in Deer Park, Texas Reduced Output
Shell’s Deerpark refinery was operating at reduced rates after a power blip, the
company said Nov. 24.
Reuters, 1429 November 24, 2004
Troubled Waters: Tanker Queues Put Spotlight On Bosporus Bypass
Delays in squeezing ships carrying Russian and Caspian crude through the Turkish Straits have grown to over two weeks as winter sets in, putting the spotlight once again back on the need for a pipeline that bypasses the congested Bosporus and Dardanelles. But with six potential routes being pushed by a motley crew of promoters from Russia, Turkey and elsewhere, it is still far from clear which project will ever see the light of day.
Nefte Compass, November 24, 2004
Petro-Canada Updates Incident at Terra Nova
Petro-Canada has deployed equipment to assist in the clean up of a discharge of oily water which occurred early Sunday morning at the Terra Nova oil field, 350 kilometres east-south-east of St. John's, Newfoundland. Oil production has been suspended pending a review of the incident by the Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board. Petro-Canada is conducting a thorough internal review of its own, and is cooperating fully with the Board in its investigation, said Incident Commander Ed Martin. Sea conditions offshore have helped mitigate the discharge, and a team working to clean up the spill and has deployed floating containment booms.
No Work on N. Iraq Oil Well Fires for Another Week
Work to extinguish fires in six northern Iraqi oil wells will not begin for at least another week, keeping flows via the export pipeline to Turkey at no more than 200,000 barrels per day, an oil official said on Wednesday. The official from Iraq's North Oil Company said a sixth oil well was set ablaze by saboteurs on Saturday, adding to five that have been burning in the Khabbaz field near the northern oil city of Kirkuk since a series of sabotage attacks mid-month.
Reuters, 0534 November 24, 2004
Natural Gas
N.Y. Natural Gas Has Largest Gain in 21 Months on Supply Drop
Natural gas rose more than a dollar, its biggest gain in 21 months, after a U.S. report showed inventories of the winter heating fuel fell more than expected. Stores of the fuel dropped 49 billion cubic feet to 3.272 trillion, the U.S. Energy Department said in a weekly report. The draw from winter storage was double the biggest decline forecast by any of the 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg, and it triggered a surge that may have squeezed traders who had made bets that prices would fall. Gas for December delivery rose $1.183, or 17 percent, to $7.976 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the biggest gain for the contract nearest expiration since Feb. 24, 2003, when gas jumped 38 percent. Bloomberg News, 1604 November 24, 2004
Freebird Gas Seeks Go-Ahead to Expand Alabama Storage Field
Freebird Gas Storage LLC has filed an application at FERC seeking to carry out a Phase II expansion of the former East Detroit Gas Storage Field in Lamar County, AL.
Natural Gas Intelligence (Nov. 23, 2004)
FERC OKs Compression Expansion on CenterPoint Gas Transmission
CenterPoint Energy Gas Transmission Co. (CEGT) on Tuesday received a FERC certificate to carry out a compression expansion of its system in Arkansas to serve a longstanding local distribution customer and future market growth.
Natural Gas Intelligence (Nov. 23, 2004)
Restrictions to IDD Lifted Beginning 11/24/04
Northern Natural Gas Company will be lifting the restriction to schedule IDD injections to the extent that they create or increase a positive inventory balance. IDD daily injection amounts will still be limited by the injection allocation capacity. Northern has reviewed its current and future storage inventory obligations and has determined that incremental IDD inventories can be accepted at this time. Northern will continue to monitor this situation and update customers if this restriction changes. Please contact your Marketing or Customer Service representative if you have any questions concerning this notification or your IDD contract provisions. The restrictions to IDD will be lifted starting with the Non-grid process on Wednesday November 24th.
Nov 23 2004 5:55PM
Other
Nothing to report.
Energy Prices
Latest (11/24/04) / Week Ago / Year AgoCRUDE OIL
West Texas Intermediate US
$/Barrel / 49.14 / 46.85 / 29.99
NATURAL GAS
Henry Hub
$/Million Btu / 5.01 / 6.06 / 4.57
Source: Reuters
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