U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Assurance

ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY

October 18, 2004

Electricity

17,800 Lose Power in Marquette, MI Sunday Shortly before noon Sunday, all 16,000 BLP customers and about 1,800 Alger Delta Cooperative customers in Chocolay Township and Big Bay experienced a total loss of electrical services. At the time of the blackout, the BLP's largest unit, Shiras Unit 3, was shut down for annual maintenance, and power was being supplied by the Shiras Unit 2, a coal-fired unit, and purchased power from American Transmission Company, a Milwaukee-based utility, said John Reynolds, manager of technology services at the BLP. At 11:38 a.m., the interconnection between the BLP and ATC failed. As a designed preventive measure, Unit 2 initiated a shutdown sequence to avoid being overloaded. BLP personnel attempted to restore power with a black start combustion turbine, an oil-fired jet engine that is used only during peak or emergency times. However, the attempts were curtailed when a component of the Plant 4 substation on Powder Mill Road failed, delaying system recovery, Reynolds said. At about 3:30 p.m. the substation was amended and the turbine was started, restoring power to critical customer circuits such as police, fire and medical facilities, Hickey said. At this time the Unit 2 start-up procedure was initiated and finally brought online at about 10 p.m. after it was properly warmed. Temporary repairs to the interconnection were also completed and the interconnection was reenergized. Shortly after that, power was restored to the majority of BLP and Alger-Delta customers. Power was returned to the last customers around 12:30 this morning, Reynolds said. Technical personnel at ATC have determined that problems with a circuit breaker that feeds the interconnection caused the failure. However, they have not determined http://www.miningjournal.net/news/story/1018202004_new01-n1018.asp http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/9950777.htm

Hope Creek Nuclear Unit to Begin Refueling Outage Early Decision Follows October 10 Shutdown Due to Steam Pipe Failure Public Service Enterprise Group (PSEG), has informed the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) that its Hope Creek nuclear station will transition to a planned refueling outage following the unit's shutdown on October 10 due to a steam pipe failure. Refueling was to have begun on October 28 and conclude in mid-December. However, an earlier start of the refueling may provide an opportunity for an earlier return-to-service date. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041018/nym206_1.html

Constellation's Ginna Reactor in New York Returning to Service

Constellation Energy Group Inc.'s 490-megawatt R.E. Ginna nuclear plant near Rochester, New York, will

return to full power by 5 p.m. local time today after shutting late Friday for valve repairs. The plant was operating at 50 percent of capacity at 11 a.m.

Bloomberg News, 1151 October 18, 2004

Duke's N.C. McGuire 1 Nuke Cut to 27 Pct Power

Duke Energy Corp. cut its 1,100-megawatt McGuire 1 nuclear unit in North Carolina to 27 percent of capacity by early Monday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its power reactor status report.

Reuters, 0729 October 18, 2004

Petroleum

Hurricane Ivan Oil Production Shut-in Statistics The shut-in oil production is equivalent to 26.91% of the daily production of oil in the GOM, which is approximately 1.7 million BOPD. The cumulative (9/11/04-10/18/04) shut-in oils production is 21,707,440 bbls which is equivalent to 3.588% of the yearly production of oil in the GOM which is approximately 605,000,000 bbls.

http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2004/press1018.htm

Kinder Morgan Preparing to Expand North Line
Kinder Morgan told customers Monday that the North line, which is moving from a 14 inch pipeline to a 20 inch pipeline is almost ready for completion. Bloomberg News, 1640 October 15, 2004

Crude Oil Prices Drop After Breaking Record Again
U.S. crude oil futures fell sharply in profit-taking and technical selling on Monday. November crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange were down $1.33 at $53.60 a barrel, after hitting a record $55.33 in overnight trading. http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/041018/markets_stocks_9.html

U.S. Proposes Terms for Alaska Oil, Natgas Leases

The U.S. Interior Department on Monday proposed the terms for its upcoming March 30, 2005 lease sale that will give energy companies the chance to drill for oil and natural gas in federal waters in Alaska's Beaufort Sea. Lease Sale 195 will cover about 1,823 tracts over 9.4 million acres that are located 3 miles to 60 miles from Alaska's coastline in water 25 feet to 3,000 feet deep. The initial terms for the lease sale were published on Monday in the Federal Register.

Reuters, 1515 October 18, 2004

Natural Gas

Hurricane Ivan Gas Production Shut-in Statistics The shut-in gas production is equivalent to 12.82% of the daily production of gas in the GOM, which is approximately 12.3 BCFPD. The cumulative (9/11/04-10/18/04) shut-in gas production is 91.000 BCF which is equivalent to 2.045% of the yearly production of gas in the GOM which is approximately 4.45 TCF.

http://www.mms.gov/ooc/press/2004/press1018.htm

Other News

IPP Scrambling for Coal
Shutdown of Skyline Mine, other problems hurting coal production Falling production levels of Utah coal have created a desperate situation for the state's largest coal-fired power plant. The Intermountain Power Project in Millard County — which sells nearly 75 percent of its generated electricity to California cities — is scrambling to meet stockpile requirements.
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,595098365,00.html

Energy Prices

Latest (10/18/04) / Week Ago / Year Ago
CRUDE OIL
West Texas Intermediate US
$/Barrel / 53.59 / 53.63 / 30.61
NATURAL GAS
Henry Hub
$/Million Btu / 5.64 /
5.63 / 4.53

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