Respondent letters

Appendix A

Sample E-Mail Notifications to Respondents

Sample EIA-820 Confirmation of Contact Information email notification:

Dear <CONTACT>

Thank you for your company’s participation in last year’s “Annual Refinery Report” (Form EIA-820). We are sending this letter to request you verify the company Respondent Information contained in our records. Your timely response to this survey has enabled us to meet our legislative mandates to provide timely, high quality regional petroleum supply information to Federal and State agencies, and to a wide variety of customers in the private sector, including those in your company. Your continued cooperation is essential for us to continue to provide this service in the future.

It is now time to prepare for the Form EIA-820 for the Report Year 2010. Because the Form EIA-820 is an annual survey the Respondent Information we have in our records may have changed since last year’s filing. The following is what we currently show in our records.

EIA ID Number: <ID>

Company Name: <NAME1>

Refinery/Site Name: <NAME2>

Contact Name: <CONTACT>

Phone Number: <PHONE>

Fax Number: <FAX>

Email Address: <EMAIL>

We request that you verify that the information shown above is either “CORRECT” or has changes. Please reply to this email by December 10, 2009 in order that future correspondence concerning this year’s Form EIA-820 is sent to the correct person in your company.

The due date for filing the Form EIA-820 is February 17, 2010. The person shown as the “Contact Name” (listed above) will receive an email approximately eight weeks before the due date. This email will direct them to EIA internet links to access copies of this years EIA-820 survey form and updated form instructions.

If you have any questions regarding this request or the Form EIA-820 survey, please contact Julie Harris at (202) 586-6281. Thank you in advance for your continued cooperation in our data collection efforts.

Sincerely,

Susan Harris

Petroleum Survey Management Team

Petroleum Division

Office of Oil and Gas

Energy Information Administration

Sample EIA-820 email notification:

Dear Respondent:

It’s time again to complete Energy Information Administration (EIA) Form EIA-820 “Annual Refinery Report” for the U.S. refinery or refineries operated by your company. This includes refineries located in U.S. territories. We will use the data from your report(s) to compile statistics showing U.S. refinery capacity as of January 1, 2010 and projected capacity for January 1, 2011 as well as fuels consumed and crude oil receipts by method of transportation.

Refinery statistics collected using Form EIA-820 will be posted on the EIA Website (http://www.eia.doe.gov) for use by people who make business and public policy decisions affecting your company and the refining industry as well as U.S. energy security, the economy, and the environment. Reporting on Form EIA-820 is mandatory because it is important for us to compile and present complete, accurate, and timely information.

Your report must be completed and sent to EIA by February 17, 2010.

Our records indicate you are the person assigned by your company to complete Form EIA-820 for the following refinery or refineries. Please let me know immediately if you are not the person responsible for completing Form EIA-820 for any or all of the refineries listed so that I can contact the appropriate person.

EIA ID Number Company Name Site Name

<DUPLICATE_ID_NAME1_NAME2>

Materials needed to complete Form EIA-820 (survey form, instructions, and definitions) are available on the EIA website at the following address.

http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/survey_forms/pet_survey_forms.html

The EIA-820 survey form may be downloaded in portable document format (PDF) or as a spreadsheet (.xls) file. Completed forms may be returned to EIA by facsimile, email or secure file transfer.

If you choose to use the spreadsheet file, you will first need to copy the file to your local computer. Data cannot be entered into the spreadsheet interactively on the EIA web site. You will receive a pop-up security warning regarding macros when you open the local copy of the EIA-820 spreadsheet file. You must select the option to enable macros in order to use the spreadsheet.

The following options are available for sending your completed Form EIA-820 report(s) to EIA.

• Facsimile: (202) 586-1076 or (202) 586-6323

• Email: [email protected]

• Secure File Transfer: https://idc.eia.doe.gov/upload/noticeoog.jsp

Please note that facsimile and email are not secure transmission methods and there is some possibility your data could be compromised. The secure file transfer option uses an industry-standard encryption process to prevent anyone outside of EIA from viewing your data. This is the same method commonly used for conducting business transactions over the Internet. Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.5 or newer or Netscape 4.77 or newer are recommended when using secure file transfer.

Please let me know if I can be of any help as you complete the Annual Refinery Report. I can be contacted by email at [email protected] or by phone at 202-586-6281.

Thank you for your cooperation in this important matter.

Sincerely,

Julie M. Harris

Industry Economist

Petroleum Division, Office of Oil and Gas

Energy Information Administration