U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Office of Energy Assurance
ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY
November 30, 2004
Electricity
SCE’s 790 MW Mohave 1 Coal-fired Plant Has Unexpected Outage
Dealers said a delay in the return of the 1,270 megawatt Unit 3 at the Palo Verde nuclear plant in Arizona and an outage at the 790 MW Unit 1 at the Mohave coal-fired plant in Nevada further tightened electricity supplies in the Southwest on November 30th.
Reuters, 1435, November 30, 2004
Wisconsin Court Sends Oak Creek Plans Back for Further Review
Responding to complaints from several groups against the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and Department of Natural Resources, a circuit judge ruled Monday that the PSC did not follow proper procedures in approving the 1,200-MW expansion of We Energies' Oak Creek coal-fired power plant. Dane County Circuit Judge David Flanagan vacated the PSC order approving the project and sent the case back to the commission for additional proceedings. The PSC gave final approval late last year to two of the three proposed coal-fired units at Oak Creek, giving the green light for construction of a total of 1,200 MW of coal-fired power and affirming its initial approval of the primary portion of We Energies' Power The Future program. The DNR followed with approval of an air permit in January this year.
Petroleum
Update -- Delaware River Opens to Traffic After Oil Spill
Ships were moving slowly into and out of the Port of Philadelphia on Tuesday after the Delaware River was partly shut by a crude oil spill last Friday, U.S. Coast Guard officials said. "Traffic is open on a case-by-case basis," said Petty Officer Jamie Bigelowe. About 20 miles of the Delaware River was shut to allow for the cleanup of about 30,000 gallons, of heavy Venezuelan crude oil that had spilled from two gashes in the hull of the Athos I, a Cypriot-flagged tanker.
Reuters, 1236 November 30, 2004
OEA comment: one Reuters report said up to 450,000 gallons had been spilled, another said about 1,000 barrels and another said 30,000 gallons. The 450,000 gallon figure may have been a mathematical error converting barrels into gallons: 1,000 barrels of crude oil = 42,000 gallons, not 450,000 gallons. The U.S. Coast Guard website only mentions 30,000 gallons as the estimated spill size.
Colonial Freezes Loadings on Main Gasoline Line
Colonial Pipeline froze loadings on its main gasoline line from Mississippi to North Carolina on Monday as demand for space outpaced capacity, the company said. The freeze means no new shipping orders may be put on the 1.3 million barrel-per-day (bpd) line during the 34th cycle, but existing orders will be honored, the company said. It is not unprecedented but it is abnormal for gasoline shipping to be limited during this time of year, Gulf Coast dealers said.
Reuters, 1643 November 29, 2004
Oil Daily, November 30, 2004
Statoil Contains Gas Leak at Platform
Rig May Be Out of Operation for Several Weeks
A Statoil ASA production rig shut down after a gas leak may be out of operation for several weeks, the company said Tuesday, cutting Norway's estimated daily production by more than 6 percent. Statoil would not say specifically when the Snorre A platform would be brought back on line, noting that any decision would have to be made after the gas leak is permanently contained. The closure means the loss of 130,000 barrels of oil a day, along with 75,000 barrels a day from the nearby Vigdis field. Those 205,000 barrels account for about 6.4 percent of Norway's estimated 3.2 million barrels a day of production.
Gas Leaks Shut 280,000 bpd North Sea Oil Supply
More than 280,000 barrels per day (bpd) of North Sea oil production remained halted on Tuesday after two separate gas leaks shut fields in the Norwegian and UK sectors. In Norway, Statoil's 130,000 barrels per day (bpd) Snorre A oil platform in the North Sea and the 75,000 bpd Vigdis satellite remained shut on Tuesday after a gas leak, and will stay closed for some days. In the British sector, the Brae oil and gas complex remained closed as work continued to repair a gas leak found at the weekend, operator Marathon said. The closure reduced UK North Sea oil production by about 76,000 barrels a day (bpd) of which 36,000 bpd came from Brae and the rest from four other fields which use the Brae infrastructure.
Reuters, 0526 November 30, 2004
EnCana, Premcor in Talks to Expand Ohio Refinery
EnCana Corp., North America's biggest oil explorer, said on Monday it is in talks with U.S. refiner Premcor Inc. aimed at jointly expanding a refinery in Ohio to process burgeoning Canadian heavy oil and oil sands production. EnCana and Premcor will conduct engineering studies to determine if it makes sense to add equipment to the Lima, Ohio, plant allowing it to process 200,000 barrels a day of heavy crude under a long-term supply contract, EnCana said. Under a memorandum of understanding, the two companies will examine 50-50 ownership of the plant, which now runs at about 170,000 barrels a day.
Reuters, 1814 November 29, 2004
Premcor Sees Ohio Refinery Online During Expansion
Premcor Inc. expects its Lima, Ohio, refinery to continue running during a potential 50-50 joint venture expansion with Canadian firm EnCana Corp., Premcor officials said Tuesday
Reuters, 1526 November 30, 2004
US Refiners to Avert Northeast Heat Oil Crunch-API
Refineries ramping up production ahead of winter should be able to keep the U.S. Northeast adequately supplied with heating oil, the head of the American Petroleum Institute said on Tuesday.
Reuters, 1452 November 30, 2004
Natural Gas
Santa Clarita, Calif., to Hold Hearing on Gas Pipeline
At a public hearing Monday, residents had the first chance to learn about a proposed natural gas pipeline that would run for more than seven miles through Santa Clarita. Called the Cabrillo Port, the project includes construction of a 21-mile underwater pipeline to transfer natural gas from an offshore storage tank to a Southern California Gas Co. pipeline facility near Oxnard. Another pipeline would run from Oxnard to Santa Clarita and then on to a storage facility at Honor Rancho near Castaic, according to Australian company BHP Billiton, which has proposed building it.
Williams to Replace Rupture-Prone Section of Northwest Pipeline
Troubleshooting a 268-mile stretch of pipeline that has been susceptible to ruptures, a unit of Williams on Monday filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission requesting authorization to construct and operate an estimated $333 million project to replace natural gas capacity on its Northwest Pipeline in western Washington.
Duke Resumes Full Service at Two Moss Bluff Storage Facilities Tuesday
Duke Energy Gas Transmission (DEGT) said it will resume operations Tuesday at two of the three storage caverns that were taken out of service following the explosion and fire at its rural Liberty County, TX, facility more than three months ago.
Tennessee Gas Completes Repairs on Offshore Louisiana Pipeline
Tennessee Gas Co. completed repairs near Ship Shoal 157 off Louisiana coast.
Bloomberg News, 1119 November 30, 2004
El Paso Pipeline Declares Unauthorized Overpull Penalty Alert
El Paso Natural Gas Co. has instituted an unauthorized overpull penalty alert
Bloomberg News, 1052 November 30, 2004
Other
Nothing to report.
Energy Prices
Latest (11/30/04) /Week Ago /
Year Ago
CRUDE OIL
West Texas Intermediate US
$/Barrel / 49.16 / 48.74 / 30.33
NATURAL GAS
Henry Hub
$/Million Btu / 6.79 / 5.24 / 4.86
Source: Reuters
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