Petroleum Supply Reporting System

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
Washington, D.C. 20585

OMB No. 1905-0165
Expiration Date: 12/31/09
(Revised 2006)

EIA-816
MONTHLY NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS REPORT
INSTRUCTIONS
•

QUESTIONS
If you have any questions about Form EIA-816 after reading
the instructions, please contact the Form Manager at
(202) 586-2990.

PURPOSE
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) Form EIA-816,
"Monthly Natural Gas Liquids Report," is used to collect data
on the operations of natural gas processing plants and endofmonth stocks of fractionators. The data appear on EIA’s
website at www.eia.doe.gov and in numerous government
publications.

WHO MUST SUBMIT

Electronic Filing Option: The PC Electronic Data
Reporting Option (PEDRO) is a Windows-based
application that will enable you to enter data interactively,
import data from your own database, validate your data
online, and transmit the encrypted data electronically to
EIA via the Internet or a dial-up modem. If you are
interested in receiving this free software, contact the
Electronic
Data
Collection
Support
Staff
at
(202) 586-9659.

COPIES OF SURVEY FORMS, INSTRUCTIONS
AND DEFINITIONS
Copies in portable document format (PDF) and spreadsheet
format (XLS) are available on EIA's website at:
www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/survey_forms/pet_survey forms.html

Form EIA-816 is mandatory pursuant to Section 13(b) of the
Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (Public Law
93-275) and must be completed by the operators of all
facilities that extract liquid hydrocarbons from a natural gas
stream (natural gas processing plant) and/or separate a
liquid hydrocarbon stream into its component products
(fractionator).

You may also access the materials by following the steps
below:
•
•
•
•

WHEN TO SUBMIT
Form EIA-816 must be received by the EIA by the 20th
calendar day following the end of the report period (e.g., the
Form EIA-816 covering the January 2007 report period must
be received by February 20, 2007).

Go to EIA’s website at www.eia.doe.gov
Click on Petroleum
Click on Petroleum Survey Forms located in the
References box on the right side of the page
Select the materials you want.

Files must be saved to your personal computer. Data cannot
be entered interactively on the website.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
PART 1. RESPONDENT IDENTIFICATION DATA

HOW TO SUBMIT
Instructions on how to report via mail, fax, secure file
transfer, or e-mail are printed on PART 2 of form EIA-816

•

Enter the year and month. The monthly report period
begins at 12:01 a.m. EST on the first day of the month
and ends midnight of the last day of the month.

•

•

Enter the 10-digit EIA ID Number. If you do not have a
number, submit your report leaving this field blank. EIA
will advise you of the number.

•

Enter the name and mailing address of the reporting
company. If there has been a change since the last
report, enter an “X” in the block provided.

•

Enter the site name of the facility.

•

Enter the name, telephone number, fax number, and email address of the person to contact concerning
information shown on the report. The person listed
should be the person most knowledgeable of the specific
data reported. Check the box provided if the contact
information is different from the prior month.

Secure File Transfer: This form may be submitted to the
EIA by fax, e-mail, or secure file transfer. Should you
choose to submit your data via e-mail or facsimile, we
must advise you that e-mail and facsimile are insecure
means of transmission because the data are not
encrypted, and there is some possibility that your data
could be compromised. You can also send your Excel
files to EIA using a secure method of transmission:
HTTPS. This is an industry standard method to send
information over the web using secure, encrypted
processes. (It is the same method that commercial
companies use to communicate with customers when
transacting business on the web.) To use this service,
we recommend the use of Microsoft Internet Explorer
5.5 or later or Netscape 4.77 or later. Send your
surveys
using
this
secure
method
to:
https://idc.eia.doe.gov/upload/noticeoog.jsp.

EIA-816, Monthly Natural Gas Liquids Report

Page 1

PART 2. SUBMISSION/RESUBMISSION INFORMATON
Refer to “How to Submit” section for more details or
methods for submitting data.

preceding instructions to prepare one Form EIA-816 as a
natural gas processing plant and one Form EIA-816 as a
fractionator.

Resubmission

Stocks (Beginning and End of Month)

A resubmission is required whenever an error greater than 5
percent of a previously reported value is discovered by a
respondent or if requested by the EIA.

Report all stocks in the custody of the facility regardless of
ownership. Reported stock quantities should represent actual
measured inventories.

Enter "X" in the resubmission box if you are correcting
information previously reported.

Report stocks as of midnight of the last day of the report
month, corrected to 60 degrees Fahrenheit (0F) less basic
sediment and water (BS&W).

Enter only those data cells which are affected by the changes.
You are not required to file a complete form when you
resubmit.

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS
PART 3. NATURAL GAS LIQUIDS ACTIVITY
Definitions of petroleum products and other terms are
available on our website. Please refer to these definitions
before completing the survey form.
Report all quantities to the nearest whole number in thousand
barrels (42 U.S. gallons/barrel). Quantities ending in 499 or
less are rounded down, and quantities ending in 500 or more
are rounded up (e.g., 106,499 barrels are reported as 106
and 106,500 barrels are reported as 107).
Report data for only those lines which are applicable to your
operation. If there are no data for a specific line, leave the
entire line blank. Shaded cells on the form are those in which
data are not currently required to be reported.

For natural gas processing plants only, stocks at the beginning
of the month are to be the same as those reported as
end-of-month stocks on the report for the preceding month.
Fractionators are only required to report end-of-month
stocks.
Report all domestic and foreign stocks held at facilities and in
transit thereto, except those in transit by pipeline. Petroleum
products in transit by pipeline are reported by pipeline
operators on Form EIA-812, “Monthly Product Pipeline
Report.” Include foreign stocks only after entry through
Customs. Exclude stocks of foreign origin held in bond.
For purposes of this report, “after entry through Customs” is
said to occur on:
•

the “entry date” specified on the U.S. Customs Form
CF7501, “Entry Summary;” or

•

the “date of withdrawal conditionally free of duty”
specified on U.S. Customs Form CF 7501, “Entry
Summary;” or

•

the “import date” specified on the U.S. Customs Form
214, “Application for Foreign Trade Zone Admission and/or
Status Designation;” or

•

the “date of exportation” specific on the U.S. Department
of Commerce Form 7525-V, “Shipper’s Export
Declaration,” for shipments from Puerto Rico to the 50
States and the District of Columbia.

Natural Gas Processing Plants
For each natural gas liquid identified on the form, report
beginning and end-of-month stocks, receipts, inputs,
production, shipments, and refinery fuel use and losses
during the month, except where shaded.
For each of the natural gas liquids identified on the form,
beginning stocks + receipts - inputs + production - shipments plant fuel use and losses during the month must equal
ending stocks.
Fractionators
For each of the products identified on the form, report only
end-of-month stocks. However, if the fractionation facility
also has isomerization units, report inputs and production of
the products being converted.
Report all mixes of natural gas plant liquids (including
unfractionated streams) by the individual components as
determined by chemical analysis (i.e., ethane, propane, normal
butane, isobutane, and pentanes plus).
Combined Operations (Natural Gas Processing Plants and
Fractionators)
Operators of natural gas processing plants that also operate a
fractionator at the same location/facility are required to file a
separate Form EIA-816 for each of these processes. Use the
Page 2

Receipts During Month
Report all receipts at the facility and in transit thereto, using the
same criteria as those used to report stocks. Include
intra-company transactions.
Inputs During Month
Inputs of product should only include quantities of products
being converted by an isomerization process into a different
product (e.g., conversion of normal butane into isobutane
would be reported as an input of normal butane and a
production of isobutane).
Production During Month
Report gross production during the month for each item
identified on the survey form. Report production during the
month by individual components as determined by chemical
analysis (i.e., ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutane, and

EIA-816, Monthly Natural Gas Liquids Report

pentanes plus). Include as production during the month the
quantity of product converted through isomerization into a
different product.
Shipments During Month
Report all shipments, including intracompany shipments to
other plants, storage facilities, refineries, chemical plants or
fractionating facilities.

Volume of Residue Gas (shipped to pipeline) During the
Month
Report all shipments, including intracompany shipments to
other plants, storage facilities, refineries, chemical plants or
fractionation facilities. The volumes of residue gas shipped to
pipelines is expected to be less than or equal to the volumes of
natural gas received during the month minus total Plant
Volumetric Reductions and the volumes sent back for
reinjections.

Plant Fuel Use and Losses During Month
Include products consumed at the facility for all purposes.
Report all nonprocessing losses (e.g., spills, fire losses,
contamination, etc.) by product.
PART 4. NATURAL GAS ACTIVITY
Natural Gas Processing Plants (Exclude Fractionators)
Report all quantities in Thousands of Cubic Feet (Mcf). If
there are no data for a specific line, leave the entire line
blank. Shaded cells on the form are those in which data are
not currently required to be reported.
Volume of Natural Gas Received During the Month
Report all wet natural gas receipts at the intake meter of the
facility.
Total Plant Volumetric Reduction (PVR) During the
Month:
a)

Plant Fuel Use/Vented and Flared

Include natural gas volumes consumed at the facility for
all purposes, and any natural gas volumes vented or
flared during the month. Include natural gas only.
b)

Nonhydrocarbon Gases Removed

Typical non-hydrocarbon gases that may be present in
reservoir natural gas are carbon dioxide, helium,
hydrogen sulfide and nitrogen.
c)

Shrinkage (from liquids produced)

Estimate the volumes of gas shrinkage in thousand of
cubic feet resulting only from the removal of natural gas
liquids from the natural gas received at the plant.
Calculate the equivalent gas volumes for the natural gas
liquids components by multiplying the specific liquid
product (i.e., ethane, propane, isobutane, normal
butane, natural gasoline, plant condensate and other
products), by the appropriate conversion factor (based
on average btu content per Mcf). After converting each
of the individual plant components or products to their
equivalent gas volume, they should then be summed to
determine the total plant shrinkage.

PROVISIONS REGARDING CONFIDENTIALITY
OF INFORMATION
The information contained on this form will be kept
confidential and not disclosed to the public to the extent that
it satisfies the criteria for exemption under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. §552, the DOE regulations,
10 C.F.R. §1004.11, implementing the FOIA, and the Trade
Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C §1905. The Energy Information
Administration (EIA) will protect your information in
accordance with its confidentiality and security policies and
procedures.
The Federal Energy Administration Act requires the EIA to
provide company-specific data to other Federal agencies
when requested for official use. The information reported on
this form may also be made available, upon request, to
another component of the Department of Energy (DOE); to
any Committee of Congress, the General Accounting Office,
or other Federal agencies authorized by law to receive such
information. A court of competent jurisdiction may obtain this
information in response to an order. The information may be
used for any nonstatistical purposes such as administrative,
regulatory, law enforcement, or adjudicatory purposes.
Disclosure limitation procedures are not applied to the
statistical data published from this survey's information.
Thus, there may be some statistics that are based on data
from fewer than three respondents, or that are dominated by
data from one or two large respondents. In these cases, it
may be possible for a knowledgeable person to estimate the
information reported by a specific respondent.
Company specific data are also provided to other DOE
offices for the purpose of examining specific petroleum
operations in the context of emergency response planning
and actual emergencies.
The data collected on Form EIA-816, “Monthly Natural Gas
Liquids Report,” is used to report aggregate statistics on and
conduct analyses of the operation of U.S. natural gas
processing plants and fractionators.

SANCTIONS

Volume of Natural Gas Returned for Reinjection During
the Month

The timely submission of Form EIA-816 by those required to
report is mandatory under Section 13(b) of the Federal
Energy Administration Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-275), as
amended. Failure to respond may result in a civil penalty of not
more than $2,750 each day for each violation, or a fine of not
more than $5,000 for each willful violation.

Report natural gas sent back to the wellhead for the purpose
of repressuring (the injection of gas into gas or oil formations
to affect greater recovery).

The government may bring a civil action to prohibit
reporting violations which may result in a temporary
restraining order or a preliminary or permanent injunction

EIA-816, Monthly Natural Gas Liquids Report

Page 3

without bond. In such civil action, the court may also issue
mandatory injunctions commanding any person to comply
with these reporting requirements.

FILING FORMS WITH THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT AND ESTIMATED REPORTING
BURDEN
Respondents are not required to file or reply to any Federal
collection of information unless it has a valid OMB control
number. Public reporting burden for this collection of
information is estimated to average 57 minutes per response.
This includes the time for reviewing instructions, searching
existing data sources, gathering and maintaining the data
needed, and completing and reviewing the collection of
information. Send comments regarding this burden estimate
or any other aspect of this collection of information including
suggestions for reducing this burden to: Energy Information
Administration, Statistics and Methods Group, EI-70, 1000
Independence Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20585; and
to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of
Management and Budget, Washington, D.C. 20503.

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EIA-816, Monthly Natural Gas Liquids Report