U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Electricity, Delivery and
Energy Reliability

ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY

August 1, 2005

Electricity

Nevada Power Company to Begin 80-MW Expansion at Harry Allen Power Station

Nevada Power Company is ready to begin construction of a $45 million, 80-megawatt expansion project at the Harry Allen Power Station, located 30 miles north of Las Vegas.

http://powermarketers.netcontentinc.net/newsreader.asp?ppa=8knpp%5E%5BedmmkquZUok%7DGJ%7Bbfek%5Cv

Utilities Coping With Bottlenecked Coal Shipments

Utilities are coping in different ways with the transportation bottleneck caused by major repair work being performed on the mainlines from the coal fields in Wyoming to customers in the mid-west and east.

·  AEP -- buying coal from other sources, using other fuels where possible, selling surplus coal where feasible.

·  Alliant – curtailing use by buying power in off-peak periods, at night and on weekends.

·  Excel – buying power; increased use of gas-fired facilities; developing options with wholesale to reduce electricity levels if necessary

Sources:

AEP -- http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/power/news_article.cfm?id=5844472

Alliant -- http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/power/news_article.cfm?id=5844800

Excel -- http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/power/news_article.cfm?id=5844929

Four Corners Unit 4 Returns to Service

The 740 MW unit 4 at the APS 2,040 MW Four Corners coal-fired generating station in New Mexico returned to service following an outage to repair a leaking tube.

Reuters 10:40, August 1, 2005.

Lennox Unit 4 Returns to Service

The 535 MW unit 4 at the Ontario Power Generation 2,140 MW Lennox oil and natural gas-fired generating station in Ontario, Canada returned to service by early Monday, August 1, 2005.

Reuters 8:30, August 1, 2005.

Fayette Unit 1 in Texas Shut to Repair Leak

The lower Colorado River Authority shut the 580 MW unit 1 at the Fayette Power Project to repair a boiler tube leak.

Reuters 8:41, August 1, 2005.

Texas Genco’s Limestone Unit 1 Seen Back in Service Soon

The 836 MW unit 1 at the coal-fired generating station of Texas Genco will be restarted either August 1 or August 2 according to a report the company filed with Texas regulators.

Reuters 8:06, August 1, 2005.

Moss Landing Unit 7 Returns to Service

The 739 MW unit 7 at the 2,498 MW Moss Landing gas-fired generating station of Duke Energy Corp. in California returned to service by late Sunday according to a report of the California ISO. The unit had been shut on July 29, for unplanned reasons.

Reuters 8:06, August 1, 2005.

Genna Nuclear Generating Station Returns to Service

The 497 MW Genna nuclear generating station of Constellation energy Group returned to service by early Monday morning according to a report of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Reuters 7:24, August 1, 2005.

Entergy’s FitzPatrick Restored to Full Power

The 825 MW FitzPatrick nuclear generating station in New York had returned to full power by early Monday morning according to the report of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Reuters 7:21, August 1, 2005.

AES’s 425 MW Gas-fired Alamitos Unit 6 In California Shut August 1

Reuters 14:17, August 1, 2005.

SCE’s 555 MW Big Creek Hydro Unit in California Shut August 1

Reuters 14:17, August 1, 2005.

Constellation’s 325 MW Gas-Fired High Desert Unit in California Shut August 1

Reuters 14:17, August 1, 2005.

AEP’s 528 MW Coal-Fired Welsh Unit 2 in Texas Shut July 30

Reuters 14:17, August 1, 2005.

OPG’s 515 MW Pickering Unit 6 Nuke In Ontario Shut August 1

Reuters 13:55, August 1, 2005.

OPG’s 494 MW Coal-Fired Lambton Unit 1 In Ontario Shut August 1

Reuters 13:55, August 1, 2005.

OPG’s 490 MW Coal-Fired Nanticoke Unit 4 In Ontario Shut August 1

Reuters 13:55, August 1, 2005.

OPG’s 490 MW Coal-Fired Nanticoke Unit 5 In Ontario Shut August 1

Reuters 13:55, August 1, 2005.

OPG’s 490 MW Coal-Fired Nanticoke Unit 6 In Ontario Shut August 1

Reuters 13:55, August 1, 2005.

Petroleum

Crude Prices Above $61 on Death of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd

Crude for September delivery settled at $61.57 a barrel on the news of the death of King Fahd and a worry over supply disruptions following a spate of refinery fires in the last week. Fires at BP’s Texas City and Murphy’s Meraux refineries caused some units to be shut. However, OPEC’s president indicated that price increases were not likely to continue on the news that Crown Prince Abdullah, who was installed as the new king, is not likely to make any changes to oil policy.

Reuters 15:28, August 1, 2005

Cooling Water Problem Shuts ExxonMobil Joliet Refinery

ExxonMobil shut its 245,000 b/d refinery in Joliet, Illinois Saturday night when a problem developed in the cooling water system. The company indicated that repairs are underway and that the facility could be restarted sometime later during the week of August 1. Although sources indicate that the shutdown will have an immediate impact on diesel production, gasoline production can continue for some time since it relies on blending stocks.

Reuters 12:20, August 1, 2005.

BP to Restart Production from Schiehallion Field Soon

On Monday, BP announced that it anticipates production from its 120,000 b/d Schiehallion field in the North Sea should resume within a few days. The field was shut down following a quickly extinguished fire that occurred on the offshore facility July 29. Late on July 29, Bp had indicated that production would resume on Sunday July 31.

Reuters 6:20, August 1, 2005.

BP to Restart Texas City FCC Unit Soon

BP expects that it will restart the 36,000 b/d fluid catalytic cracking unit at its Texas City refinery within the next couple of days. According to the company, the maintenance work performed on the unit was not related to the explosion and fire that occurred at the refinery July 28.

Reuters 12:06, August 1, 2005.

Murphy Will Restart Meraux Hydrotreater Next Week

On Monday, August 1, 2005, Murphy Oil confirmed that it will restart the 18,000 b/d kerosene hydrotreater sometime early next week. Although the unit was closed by a fire that occurred on July 28, Murphy stated that the closure had no impact on production.

Reuters 12:08, August 1, 2005.

OPIS rice Watch Alert 15:52, August 1, 2005.

Update – Equipment Outages Lead Valero to Cut Production at Two Texas Refineries

The outage of a crude unit at Valero’s 260,000 b/d St. Charles refinery resulted in cutting distillate production by 35,000 b/d while the outage of a coking unit at the Corpus Christi refinery led to the loss of 2,500 b/d of jet fuel production. A tube failure at the St. Charles refinery that occurred on July 27 and power failure on July 21 at the Corpus led to the outages. Valero anticipates that the repairs on the St. Charles unit should be complete and the unit returned to service sometime August 1, and the repairs on the Corpus Christi unit will take until at least August 7 to complete.

Reuters 18:40, July 29, 2005

Natural Gas

Florida Gas Transmission Issues Critical Day Warning

With temperatures throughout Florida expected to be high, Florida Gas Transmission issued a critical day warning to shippers indicating that they must stay within 25 percent of their scheduled volumes on Monday, August 1, 2005.

Reuters 11:35, August 1, 2005.

Public/Private LNG Deal in California

The city of Long Beach, California, is negotiating a gas supply deal with joint venture companies Mitsubishi and ConocoPhillips for a 2.4-mile, 24-inch-diameter pipeline that will be owned by Long Beach. The pipeline will connect the proposed port-based liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving terminal and Southern California Gas Company’s transmission pipeline system.
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EIA Projects Natural Gas Use to Lead Worldwide Energy Demand until 2025
The Energy Information Administration's (EIA) International Energy Outlook projects natural gas consumption to increase 2.3% per year, or a total of 69%, from 92 Tcf in 2002 to 156 Tcf in 2025. This rise marks the fastest climb of any other energy source over the next 23 years.

Source: NGI’s Daily Price Index, August 01, 2005

http://intelligencepress.com/

FERC Recommends Approval for Northwest Pipeline's Capacity Replacement Project

A $333 million project to replace natural gas delivery capacity on the Williams' Northwest Pipeline in western Washington State has been recommended for approval by FERC.

Source: NGI’s Daily Price Index, August 01, 2005

http://intelligencepress.com/

Other News

Nothing to report.

Energy Prices

Latest (08/01/05) / Week Ago / Year Ago
CRUDE OIL
West Texas Intermediate US
$/Barrel / 61.51 / 58.10 / 43.72
NATURAL GAS
Henry Hub
$/Million Btu / 8.03 / 7.38 / 6.03

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

ENSEC threat awareness blog site from Energy Assurance

http://ensec.blogspot.com

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