U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY Office of Energy Assurance ENERGY ASSURANCE DAILY

July 23, 2004

Electricity

Update -- ComEd Restores Service After Severe Storms Rip Through Chicago Area After an intensive two-day effort, ComEd restored power to nearly all 250,000 customers affected by consecutive days of torrential storms that caused extensive damage to ComEd's system. As of 1 p.m. Friday, ComEd crews were working to restore service to the few hundred customers that remained without power. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/040723/cgf032_1.html

Update -- AEP Power Outages The number of area residents still without electricity in the wake of Wednesday's severe storm is down to a few thousand. As of 10:15 a.m. EDT Friday, American Electric Power said only 6,400 customers remained without power, compared to the more than 36,000 who lost their electricity at the peak of the storm. Of those 6,400, 3,900 were from the Buchanan area and the remainder from the South Bend, Elkhart and Three Rivers areas. In the city of Niles, only a few of the 8,000 customers of the Niles Utilities Department were still without electricity Friday. The number also had dwindled considerably in southern Cass County, with just 31 customers of Midwest Energy still without electricity. http://www.southbendtribune.com/breakingnews/posts/1399.html

Calif. Ormond Beach 775 MW Unit 2 Taken Off-line The 775 megawatt Unit 2 at the Ormond Beach gas-fired plant in southern California was off-line early Friday, the California Independent System Operator said in a posting on its web site. The ISO, which manages most of the state's power grid, said the outage was unplanned. T http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040723/utilities_reliant_ormond_1.html

Update -- AEP's Texas Welsh 3 Plant Starts to Exit Outage American Electric Power Co Inc.’s 528 megawatt Welsh 3 coal-fired power plant in Texas started up on Thursday following a forced outage, according to a report from the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040723/utilities_aep_welsh_3.html

Texas Genco 766-MW Limestone 2 to Shut Friday - Texas Genco will shut its 766-megawatt coal-fired Unit 2 at its Limestone Electric Generating Station on Friday to repair a boiler tube leak, according to a company filing on the website of the Texas Commission for Environmental Quality. http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040723/utilities_centerpoint_limestone_1.html PSEG’s Salem 2 Nuke Ramps Up to 50% Power Capacity PSEG’s 1,1150 Megawatt Salem 2 nuclear unit is up to 50% power from only 22% power from the previous report. The plant was reconnected to the grid at 1:40 a.m. this morning, following maintenance to a steam generator. Bloomberg News, July 23, 2004

PSEG's N.J. Salem 2 Nuke Up to 40 Percent Power PSEG Power's 1,150 megawatt Salem 2 nuclear unit in New Jersey was at 40 percent power early Friday, up from 22 percent of capacity on Thursday, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission said in its power reactor status report. The unit, in Salem, New Jersey, had been reduced to about 22 percent to repair a hydraulic leak in the turbine, a spokesman for PSEG's parent Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. had said previously. http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040723/utilities_pseg_salem_1.html

Construction Begins on Palomar Energy Project Escondido Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler, California Energy Commission Chairman William Keese and Sempra Energy President and Chief Operating Officer Donald E. Felsinger today hosted the groundbreaking for Palomar Energy, a state-of-the-art natural gas-fueled 550-megawatt power plant in Escondido, Calif. http://public.sempra.com/newsreleases/viewpr.cfm? PR_ID=1735&Co_Short_Nm=SE

Petroleum

PIW Scorecard: Opec Prices At 24-Year Peak Underscoring the strength of global oil markets, Opec producers are selling more crude at higher prices than at any time in the last 24 years, without any significant easing of their term contract pricing formulas. Saudi Arabia, like other producers, has made only minor adjustments, with no significant easing of price levels needed to move more crude. As a result, Saudi Arabian Light cost US refiners $33-$38 per barrel in the second quarter, according to Petroleum Intelligence Weekly’s latest price scorecard. Petroleum Intelligence Weekly, July 26, 2004

Atofina Texas Refinery Is Started After Power Failure Atofina Petrochemicals Inc, restored production after a lightning strike-related power loss Thursday afternoon at its Port Arthur, Texas, refinery. Capacity was restored within two hours according to an Atofina spokesman. The refinery, the only one Atofina operates in the U.S., can process 240,000 barrels of crude oil and other petroleum components a day. Bloomberg News, 1317 July 23, 2004

Natural Gas

Michigan Public Service Commission Grants Authority to W.C. Pipeline Co., Don Yohe Enterprises, and Merit Pipeline Company to Construct and Operate Pipelines http://pro.energycentral.com/professional/news/gas/news_article.cfm?id=5003570 Other

Canadian Rotary Drilling Rig Count Up 139, U.S. up 5 from Last Week The count of Canadian rigs from Baker Hughes company went up dramatically last week from 241 to 390. For more information on the actual counts of rigs in Canada, the United States, or internationally, see the spreadsheets updated weekly on the Baker Hughes web site. http://www.bakerhughes.com/investor/rig/index.htm

Energy Prices

Latest Week Ago Year Ago (7/23/04) CRUDE OIL West Texas Intermediate US 41.83 41.10 30.13 $/Barrel NATURAL GAS Henry Hub 5.98 5.77 4.88 $/Million Btu 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