Supporting Statement
for the
Natural Gas Data Collection Program Package
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) # 1905-0175
Introduction
Request is made for a 3‑year extension of the following currently‑approved natural gas survey forms with proposed revisions listed below:
EIA‑176, “Annual Report of Natural and Supplemental Gas Supply and Disposition,”
EIA‑191, “Monthly and Annual Underground Natural Gas Storage Report,”
EIA-757, “Natural Gas Processing Plant Survey,”
EIA‑857, “Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and Deliveries to Consumers,”
EIA-895, “Annual Quantity of Natural Gas Production Report,”
EIA-910, “Monthly Natural Gas Marketer Survey,” and
EIA-912, “Weekly Underground Natural Gas Storage Report.”
Forms EIA‑176, EIA‑191, EIA-757, EIA‑857, EIA-910, and EIA-912 are all mandatory. Form EIA‑895 is voluntary.
With respect to its natural gas survey forms, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is proposing the following changes:
For Form EIA-176: Add the collection of the revenue associated with natural gas transported but not owned.
For Form EIA-857: Add the collection of revenue for natural gas sold and transported to the electric power end-use sector.
For Form EIA-857: Add the collection of customer counts to each of the end-use sectors in which natural gas is sold or transported.
For Form EIA-895: Add the collection of production of natural gas from shale.
For Form EIA-910: discontinue collecting data in the State of Massachusetts.
For all natural gas survey instructions: Make clarifications and simplifications to the instructions and definitions.
Add the Form EIA-757 survey under OMB number 1905-0175. Upon approval, the EIA-757 survey under its current OMB number, 1905-0206, will be discontinued.
In the Federal Register notice posted April 2, 2008, 73 FR 19765, the EIA proposes that the above mentioned changes related to monthly forms become effective with the collection of data for the January 2009 reference period and those related to annual forms become effective with the collection of data for the 2008 reference period. The current versions of the monthly forms will be used until such time.
In 2005, OMB granted approval for the Natural Gas Data Collection Program Package (under 1905-0175 OMB Notice of Action) and stipulated as "Terms of Clearance" that EIA report on the following matters with this submission:
OMB understands that EIA is in the process of eliminating the EIA-895 and replacing it with EIA-914. Prior to discontinuing the data series contained in EIA-895, the agency will notify the public as to the differences between EIA-895 and EIA-914, as well as the date the new data series contained in EIA-914 will replace the EIA-895.
Beginning with the March 2007 Natural Gas Monthly which featured data from January 2007, the natural gas production data from Form EIA-914 was phased in while data from Form EIA-895M was no longer published. EIA made several references to the phase-in of the Form EIA-914 and its implications beginning with the January 2007 Natural Gas Monthly which included references to articles on the EIA website that detailed the data collection methods for the EIA-914 as well as the differences between EIA-914 and EIA-895M data http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/data_publications/natural_gas_monthly/historical/2007/2007_03/ngm_2007_03.html, http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/data_publications/eia914/eia914.html. In addition, respondents were notified of the replacement of the Form EIA-895M with the Form EIA-914, and details of the EIA data products that would be impacted by the transition of natural gas production data sources were provided http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/data_publications/natural_gas_monthly/historical/2007/2007_01/pdf/impact914ngm.pdf. EIA completed the phase-in of the EIA-914 as the primary source of natural gas production data in the May 2007 Natural Gas Monthly which featured data through March 2007. As approved by OMB in 2005, the Form EIA895M was eliminated upon completion of the phase-in of the Form EIA-914. However, the Form EIA-895, formerly called the Form EIA-895A, continues to collect annual data on natural gas production.
OMB also included the following “Terms of Clearance” in 2005, for the Natural Gas Data Collection Program Package: When the agency resubmits this collection the supporting statement should address problems with the survey frame in EIA-910. Specifically address whether the turnover rate of natural gas marketers in the recently added states limits the usefulness of the data from those states.
Beginning January 2005, coverage for Form EIA-910 was expanded further to collect data from seven additional States (Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, and West Virginia) and the District of Columbia. The selection of these additional States and the District of Columbia was primarily based on the increasing percentage of natural gas sold by marketers and growth patterns in customer choice programs within these States.
The implementation and subsequent expansion of the EIA-910 survey has led to improved quality of the natural gas price data and coverage in the residential and commercial sectors. Outlined below is an assessment of the current state of the utility of the survey frame regarding choice programs and gaps in current price coverage:
The initial implementation of the EIA-910 program successfully raised the market coverage of natural gas sales at the national level from 92.2 percent in 2001 to 97.7 percent in 2004 for the residential sector and from 65.8 percent in 2001 to 78.0 percent in 2004 for the commercial sector. With the addition of the new States in 2005, market coverage in the residential sector has reached 98.0 percent in 2006 and to 81.0 percent in 2006 in the commercial sector.
In Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey (commercial sector only), West Virginia (residential sector only), and the District of Columbia (residential sector only) data are being collected and evaluated. With the exception of Massachusetts, which EIA is proposing to eliminate for collection on EIA-910 because of the decrease in the percent of natural gas sold by marketers, EIA is continuing to pursue reporting from marketers in the remaining States, listed above. EIA has also asked for local distribution companies who report on Form EIA-857 to begin reporting the number of transportation customers so that a comparison of the marketer customers reported on EIA-910 will be possible and lead to further data quality improvements.
EIA continues to monitor the States for emerging and expanding customer choice programs. As States begin to reflect significant price coverage decreases, they will be considered for inclusion in the EIA-910 program. In the initial proposal for the Natural Gas Data Collection package, the States of Alaska, California, Maine, Oklahoma and Wyoming were proposed for inclusion on EIA-910 because of declines in price coverage in the commercial sector. However, after public comments received from the National Energy Marketers Association as well as assessment of internal resource constraints, EIA has decided not to pursue these additional States for inclusion on EIA-910, at this time.
EIA provides an annual update of the status of residential customer choice programs which can be found on the EIA website http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/restructure/restructure.html.
A. Justification
A1. Legal Authority
The authority for these data collections is provided by the following provisions:
15 U.S.C. §772(b), of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (FEA Act), Public Law 93-275, outlines the types of individuals subject to the information collection authority delegated to the [Secretary] and the general parameters of the type of data which can be required. Section 772(b) states:
“All persons owning or operating facilities or business premises who are engaged in any phase of energy supply or major energy consumption shall make available to the [Secretary] such information and periodic reports, records, documents, and other data relating to the purposes of this Act, including full identification of all data and projections as to source, time, and methodology of development, as the [Secretary] may prescribe by regulation or order as necessary or appropriate for the exercise of functions under the Act.”
The functions of the FEA Act are set forth in 15 U.S.C. §764(b), of the FEA Act, which states that the Administrator shall, to the extent he is authorized by Section 764(a) of the FEA Act,
“(2) assess the adequacy of energy resources to meet demands in the immediate and longer range future for all sectors of the economy and for the general public; . . .
(4) develop plans and programs for dealing with energy production shortages;
(5) promote stability in energy prices to the consumer, promote free and open competition in all aspects of the energy field, prevent unreasonable profits within the various segments of the energy industry, and promote free enterprise;
(6) assure that energy programs are designed and implemented in a fair and efficient manner so as to minimize hardship and inequity while assuring that the priority needs of the Nation are met;...
(9) collect, evaluate, assemble, and analyze energy information on reserves, production, demand, and related economic data.”
“(12) perform such other functions as may be prescribed by law.”
As the authority for invoking Section 764(b) above, 15 U.S.C. §764(a), of the FEA Act in turn states:
“Subject to the provisions and procedures set forth in this Act, the [Secretary] shall be responsible for such actions as are taken to assure that adequate provision is made to meet the energy needs of the Nation. To that end, he shall make such plans and direct and conduct such programs related to the production, conservation, use, control, distribution, rationing, and allocation of all forms of energy as are appropriate in connection with only those authorities or functions:
“(1) specifically transferred to or vested in him by or pursuant to this Act: …
“(3) otherwise specifically vested in the Administrator by the Congress.”
Additional authority for this information collection is provided by 15 U.S.C. §790a of the FEA Act, which states that the Administrator:
“… [Shall] establish a National Energy Information System … [which] shall contain such information as is required to provide a description of and facilitate analysis of energy supply and consumption within and affecting the United States on the basis of such geographic areas and economic sectors as may be appropriate ...
“(b) the System shall contain such energy information as is necessary to carry out the Administration's statistical and forecasting activities ..., and such energy information as is required to define and permit analysis of ...
“(1) the institutional structure of the energy supply system including patterns of ownership and control of mineral fuel and nonmineral energy resources and the production, distribution, and marketing of mineral fuels and electricity;
“(2) the consumption of mineral fuels, nonmineral energy resources, and electricity by such classes, sectors, and regions as may be appropriate for the purposes of this Act;
“(3) the sensitivity of energy resource reserves, exploration, development, production, transportation, and consumption to economic factors, environmental constraints, technological improvements, and substitutability of alternate energy sources; ...
“(5) industrial, labor, and regional impacts of changes and patterns of energy supply and consumption.”
A2. Needs and Uses of Data
The purpose of the Natural Gas Data Collection Program Package is to collect basic and detailed data to meet EIA’s mandates and energy data users’ needs. Adequate evaluation of the industry requires production, processing, transmission, distribution, storage, marketing, consumption, and price data.
(1) The data that the EIA collects are used to address significant energy industry issues. In line with its mandated responsibility to collect data that adequately describe the natural gas marketplace, EIA has been and will continue to be asked to evaluate the significance of a number of important issues related to the energy industry in general and the natural gas industry in particular. The data collected by the Natural Gas Data Collection Program Package surveys are among those that are required to address these issues.
(2) EIA must collect some data at the State level. Congressional and State Agency users have strongly emphasized their need for such data. EIA’s collection of these data is consistent with its mandated responsibilities to collect specific product information for appropriate geographic areas and economic sectors, to act as a central clearinghouse, and to disseminate relevant information to the States. At the same time, EIA is committed to operate its data collections in a manner that will minimize the industry’s reporting burden to the extent possible.
(3) Timely data are essential to policy makers and industry planners who make decisions affecting all aspects of the natural gas industry. Customer surveys have increased EIA’s awareness of the need for data as quickly as reliable, accurate data can be released.
(4) Alternative data sources do not adequately satisfy the needs of EIA and its user communities. Accurate, meaningful, and independent price, supply and demand statistics are essential to describe and measure phenomena in the marketplace. It is necessary that this information be collected by an unbiased, independent source, if the data are to be credible.
Data from the forms in the Natural Gas Data Collection Program Package are published in the Annual Energy Outlook, Annual Energy Review, Natural Gas Annual, Natural Gas Monthly, Natural Gas Weekly Update, Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report, Monthly Energy Review, Short‑Term Energy Outlook, State Energy Profiles, and numerous other EIA products.
EIA’s natural gas data are published in papers, trade journals, and technical reports as well as cited and republished in reports by consulting firms, financial institutions, and numerous others entities. A number of State agencies republish EIA data in reports to the public including Florida, Indiana, Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
Following is a description of all survey forms that comprise the natural gas data collection program. For reference purposes, current OMB numbers of the surveys described in this section, as well as surveys referenced throughout this package are described below:
EIA-64A, “Annual Report of the Origin of Natural Gas Liquids Production”: OMB# 1905-0057,
EIA‑176, “Annual Report of Natural and Supplemental Gas Supply and Disposition”: OMB# 1905-0175,
EIA‑191, “Monthly and Annual Underground Natural Gas Storage Report”: OMB# 1905-0175,
EIA-423, “Monthly Cost and Quality of Fuels for Electric Plants”: OMB# 1905-0129,
EIA-757, “Natural Gas Processing Plant Survey”: OMB# 1905-0206,
EIA-816, “Monthly Natural Gas Liquids Report”: OMB#1905-0165,
EIA‑857, “Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and Deliveries to Consumers”: OMB# 1905-0175,
EIA-895, “Annual Quantity of Natural Gas Production Report”: OMB# 1905-0175,
EIA-906, “Power Plant Report”: OMB# 1905-0129,
EIA-910, “Monthly Natural Gas Marketer Survey”: OMB# 1905-0175, and
EIA-912, “Weekly Underground Natural Gas Storage Report”: OMB# 1905-0175.
Form EIA‑176, “Annual Report of Natural and Supplemental Gas Supply and Disposition”
Natural gas supply and disposition data collection was initiated in 1910 and was conducted as a voluntary annual natural gas supply and disposition survey by the Department of Interior, Bureau of Mines (BOM) until 1977. With the establishment of DOE in 1977, responsibility for the survey was transferred to the EIA within DOE. The voluntary survey was continued through 1979 by EIA using the BOM Forms 6‑1340‑A, “Supply and Disposition of Natural Gas,” for non‑producing distribution companies and 6‑1341‑A, “Supply and Disposition of Natural Gas,” for all other respondents. EIA received approval to continue the survey using a slightly‑modified mandatory survey form EIA‑176, “Supply and Disposition of Natural Gas,” for report years 1980 and 1981. Approvals of the use of a substantially‑revised form were granted for report years 1982 to 1986, and for the use of the form with minor revisions for report years 1987 through 2001. In 2002, EIA requested and received approval to revise the EIA-176 to collect data on natural gas deliveries to nonutility generators of electricity.
EIA requests approval of the following significant change to the Form EIA-176:
(1) collection of revenue data for natural gas transported but not owned by the delivery company
The Form EIA‑176 provides the EIA with the major elements of information required to combine and merge with data collected in other EIA surveys to develop gas supply and disposition balances and relevant cost, price, and related information at the State level. The data collected are necessary to continue a long-term consistent, but evolving, data series of basic summary information on natural gas which is essential to provide analysts with the tools necessary to make informed assessments of the variations in natural gas supply, demand, and prices over time and geography.
In requesting the addition to Form EIA-176 of the revenue associated with natural gas transported but not owned by the delivery company, EIA will improve data quality by having an annual benchmark with which to compare monthly revenue from the delivery of natural gas transported but not owned collected on EIA-857, “Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and Deliveries.” In addition, allowing respondents a place to report revenue for gas transported but not owned reduces confusion about which revenue is to be reported for gas that is owned and sold to the distribution company’s own customers. EIA will exempt pipeline companies in the EIA-176 reporting universe from reporting transportation revenues that are outside the scope of the reporting requirement as it does on the EIA-857.
The information collected on the Form EIA‑176 is needed and used by the DOE for the following purposes:
(1) to develop and make available to the Congress, the States, and the public an accurate quantified assessment of the supply of natural and supplemental gas available to each of the various States from all sources, both internal and external, and the manner in which such supply was used, consumed, or otherwise disposed of,
(2) to determine the quantity of natural and supplemental gas consumed within each of the various States by market sector, the average prices for such gas, and the changes in consumption and price patterns over time from the first purchase through the final price paid by consumers,
(3) to produce the Natural Gas Annual (NGA),
(4) to provide natural gas data for the State Energy Profiles,
(5) to provide natural gas input data to energy supply, demand, and price forecasting models especially EIA’s National Energy Modeling System and Short-Term Integrated Forecasting System,
(6) to supply the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with background and baseline information on the total natural gas market by State and groups of States,
(7) to provide natural gas input data to the following EIA publications: Annual Energy Review, Annual Energy Outlook, Short-Term Energy Outlook, and Monthly Energy Review, which are distributed to all members of Congress,
(8) to respond to Congressional and internal Departmental requests for analysis of policy and regulatory issues, and
(9) to provide a frame for selecting respondents of the EIA-857, “Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and Deliveries to Consumers” survey.
EIA‑191, “Monthly and Annual Underground Natural Gas Storage Report”
Form EIA‑191 requests monthly and annual data on the location, ownership, capacity, and operations of all active underground natural gas storage reservoirs. Substantial underground natural gas storage facilities are necessary because of fluctuating seasonal, daily, and even hourly marketing requirements. Natural gas is usually injected into storage when market requirements are below available gas flows in transmission lines and then is withdrawn from storage when supplies from producing fields and/or the capacities of transmission systems are inadequate to meet peak requirements.
EIA is proposing only minor changes to Form EIA-191 and its instructions. Those changes are intended to clarify reporting requirements for both the form and instructions.
The information collected on Form EIA‑191 will be used by the EIA for the following purposes:
(1) to provide State‑level data on underground natural gas storage with respect to injections, withdrawal capabilities, inventories, type of storage facility, type of operators, location of facilities, and capacity for the EIA's Natural Gas Monthly. State‑level storage data are comparable to state‑level production and consumption data published in the Natural Gas Monthly. This monthly data collection also provides reliable baseline data on storage operations necessary for analyses, modeling, and comparison with normal industry operations in case of severe weather, natural disaster, or other extreme circumstances. The data are also used in natural gas industry deliverability studies as described in item (6).
(2) to serve as the universe from which the sample for the weekly survey EIA-912 is drawn,
(3) to provide data on underground natural gas storage injections, withdrawals, and inventories for the EIA's Natural Gas Weekly Update, Monthly Energy Review, and Annual Energy Review,
(4) to provide data on underground natural gas storage inventories for the forecasts contained in the EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook,
(5) to provide data on all aspects of underground natural gas storage to enable EIA, FERC, and other elements of DOE to identify and assess the supplies of gas in storage by geographic location on a timely basis,
(6) to provide data for system deliverability studies undertaken by EIA as a part of its analysis tasks. Capacity information is collected at the reservoir level to allow comparisons of the utilization of the individual reservoirs. Storage data are a critical link in understanding the peak day deliverability of the natural gas system and overall system operations, and
(7) to produce the Natural Gas Annual (NGA).
EIA-757, “Natural Gas Processing Plant Survey”
The purpose of the proposed Form EIA-757 is to collect data on the operational status and capacity of natural gas processing plants to understand their production levels and characteristics, as well as to monitor constraints resulting from natural gas supply emergencies. The information will be used to develop periodic reports presenting aggregate information on processing plant capacity and operations. In an emergency situation that disrupts natural gas supplies, the information collected from Schedule B of this form will be used to assess the severity of the disruption to regional market conditions. Presently there is no timely information source on the status of natural gas processing plants in the United States to discern critical operating levels and constraints of natural gas processing plants. This information is crucial during a natural gas supply disruption, for informed decision and policy making during emergency periods of disruption of natural gas supplies. The information collected through this survey would be used widely by Federal and State agencies, Congress, industry analysts and the general public to understand the operational capabilities and characteristics and, in the event of a natural gas supply emergency, the plant constraints and expected recovery from a natural gas supply emergency of natural gas processing plants.
Using information reported on Form EIA-757, EIA would publish periodic reports on the operational characteristics, status, and constraints of natural gas processing plants, providing aggregate statistics. EIA will report aggregate information from Schedule A each time Schedule A is fielded, at most every 3 years. EIA will determine the frequency of reporting aggregate information from Schedule B at the time the schedule is activated. It is proposed that company-specific information be protected and not disclosed to the public. Aggregate statistics, based on the Form EIA-757, would likely be published every 3 years. In the case of a natural gas supply disruption, aggregate statistics may be published either daily or weekly, in emergency status reports prepared by the Energy Information Administration and the Department of Energy, and used in the production of several other EIA information products. It would be used:
to develop and make available to the Congress, the States, other government agencies and the public a timely and accurate quantified assessment of current natural gas processing plant operations and operational capacity
to develop and make available to the Congress, the States, other government agencies a timely and accurate quantifiable assessment of natural gas processing plant outages and operational constraints
as input to other EIA statistical information products, such as energy status reports,
to provide input to supply, demand, and price forecasting models, such as the Short-Term Integrated Forecasting System, and
to respond to Congressional, internal Departmental and inter-Agency requests for analysis of natural gas supply constraints and operating levels in the United States, as well as policy and regulatory issues.
EIA’s natural gas statistics are also published in papers, trade journals, and technical reports as well as cited and republished in reports by consulting firms, financial institutions, and numerous others.
Form EIA-757 was approved for clearance on March 25, 2008, but is proposed to be re-cleared under the natural gas surveys, OMB number, 1905-0175. Once approved, the OMB number 1905-0206 (the current OMB number for the Form EIA-757) will be discontinued. To the Form EIA-757 form and instructions, no changes are proposed.
EIA‑857, “Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and Deliveries to Consumers”
Form EIA‑857 was designed to collect monthly natural gas data at the State level consisting of average natural gas purchase prices, consumption of natural gas by sector, and average price by sector from a sample of the respondents reporting on the EIA-176. These data are necessary to provide timely information needed to measure the combined impact of government, industry, and consumer actions; geographic location; interfuel competition; climatic or seasonal conditions; and a host of other factors upon the natural gas industry and natural gas consumers.
EIA requests approval of the following significant changes to the Form EIA-857:
Collection of revenue associated with natural gas deliveries sold and transported to customers in the electric power sector
Collection of the number of customers for the gas sold and transported to each of the end-use sectors (residential, commercial, industrial, and electric power).
The purchased gas data collected on the Form EIA-857 are needed to develop average delivered or city‑gate prices to provide analysts and decision‑makers with information on the levels and rates of change in “wholesale” prices to distribution systems and the differences in such prices across the Nation. That information provides direct measures of the combined effect of producer prices, transportation costs, and pipeline‑provided services upon distributors’ purchased gas costs and the variations geographically, seasonally, and under changing market conditions. The information also enables analysts to monitor the effects of Public Utility Commission actions at the State level.
The consumer price information collected enables the EIA to provide information on the prices by major consumer class on a monthly basis. Consumer prices provide analysts and decision‑makers with direct measures of average consumer prices and price changes, geographically, seasonally, among consumer classes, and under changing market conditions.
Collection of revenue data associated with gas distributed to end users for the account of others will be used by EIA to analyze changes in distribution tariffs and for projections of future natural gas prices in EIA’s Short-Term Energy Outlook and Annual Energy Outlook. Specifically, EIA will calculate the average cost of distribution services charged by local natural gas utilities to end-use consumers. EIA exempts pipeline companies in the EIA-857 sample from reporting transportation revenues that are outside the scope of the reporting requirement.
Currently electric revenue data are not collected, as the data used to determine published prices for natural gas used for electric generation come from other EIA surveys, Form EIA-423, “Monthly Cost and Quality of Fuels for Electric Plants Report,” and Form EIA-906, “Power Plant Report.” However, not allowing respondents to report revenue for deliveries to the electric power sector on Form EIA-857 has caused some confusion as to where this revenue should be reported. Consequently, some revenue has been reported in the wrong end-use sector. Additionally, having the data available on a monthly basis will provide a useful comparison to the electric power revenue already collected on Form EIA-176, as comparing monthly to annual revenue data for the other end-use sectors frequently reveals discrepancies between the two series.
EIA also proposes to collect customer counts, i.e., number of customers, for each of the end-use sectors for gas sold and transported to residential, commercial, industrial, electric power, and other customers. Having this data will enable EIA to better monitor fluctuations in monthly volume reporting which are commonly the result of changes to the number of customers being served. Collection of the number of customers served by deliveries for the account of others (i.e. marketers) will also allow EIA to provide a useful comparison for the number of customers reported by marketers on EIA-910, “Monthly Natural Gas Marketer Survey.”
Current data on consumption by the major consumer classes by State are necessary to enable the EIA to provide timely information on any changes in the levels of consumption at the State level by sector, analyze the patterns of change over time and the underlying drivers, and develop projections of future usage patterns for inclusion in the Short-Term Energy Outlook and Annual Energy Outlook.
State‑by‑State data are necessary, as indicated above, to enable the EIA to provide information on the frequently substantial differences in prices and consumption patterns among the various States. The cumulative effect of location relative to supply sources, climatic conditions, regulatory agency policies, interfuel competition, industrial activities, sources of supply, storage and peak shaving requirements, and location of transmission facilities result in significantly different price and consumption profiles across the Nation. Information on consumption profiles is necessary to enable analysts and decision‑makers to assess ultimate impacts of various legislative or industry actions upon particular areas or regions.
The information collected on the Form EIA‑857 is used to estimate:
(1) monthly average price by State of natural gas delivered by local distribution companies,
(2) monthly average price of natural gas billed to residential, commercial, and industrial consumers in each of the various States, and
(3) quantity of natural gas for which residential, commercial, industrial, and all consumers were billed each month in each of the various States.
State and national level aggregate data are published in EIA's Natural Gas Monthly, Monthly Energy Review, and Winter Fuels Report, and made available to the Executive Branch, Congress, State governments, industry, and the public.
If the collection of information on the Form EIA‑857 were not conducted, the EIA would be unable to provide information on the actual effects upon the natural gas market of current or future legislation and regulation in the detail and time frame necessary to adequately monitor and evaluate the market. Seasonality of the market is an important driver of the price and supply. Monthly data are the minimum level of reporting that will allow for assessment of the impacts of weather and other seasonal factors on the consumption and price patterns.
EIA-895, “Monthly and Annual Quantity and Value of Natural Gas Production Report”
The EIA-895 provides a standard reporting system for the amount of natural gas produced by State by month. The Form is filed by 32 of the 33 natural gas producing States and the obligation to file is voluntary. It provides details on gross withdrawals from gas and oil wells and shale, on volumes vented and flared, used for repressuring, nonhydrocarbon gases removed, natural gas used as fuel on leases, and the amount of natural gas available for marketing. These data are routinely collected by the States for taxation and statistical purposes.
Data from the EIA-895 are essential for estimating the volumes of natural gas supplies available to markets. EIA uses the data in its supply/disposition balances at the State level.
EIA is proposing to ask for a breakout of natural gas produced from shale as natural gas produced from this source has increased in recent years and is expected to rise in the future. Therefore, EIA finds it necessary to accurately capture this source of natural gas production. In addition, EIA is including minor changes to the Form EIA-895 and its instructions. Those changes are intended to clarify reporting requirements for both the form and instructions.
To ensure the coverage of all natural gas sales to residential and commercial consumers in its natural gas price data, EIA is requesting continued use of the Form EIA-910, “Monthly Natural Gas Marketers Survey.” This survey was first approved for use in May 2001, under ICR 1905-0202. The survey collects State-level monthly data on sales to residential and commercial customers by companies that market natural gas but are not involved in the physical final deliveries of gas to customers. Form EIA-857, “Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and Deliveries to Consumers,” collects information on direct sales and gas transported for others from companies making deliveries of natural gas. Combining information from the EIA-910 and EIA-857 helps ensure complete price coverage of natural gas deliveries in the States surveyed.
As initial customer choice programs began to take hold and have an effect, EIA determined that, in order to develop a comprehensive price representing all sales, it would be prudent to monitor prices paid by customers of third-party marketers as well as those who continued to purchase from local distribution companies or utilities. However, before deciding to directly survey natural gas marketers to gather price information, EIA investigated the quality of data publicly available from State government agencies. Prices are posted on the Internet for transactions in a number of States and it was suggested that EIA rely on such information. Based on an examination of these postings, EIA concluded that the data were not a reliable and accurate measure of prices actually paid by gas customers. In addition, a number of fundamental difficulties were encountered in exploring the use of the public information. Information in some cases, such as in Ohio, includes charges that are not on a per unit basis. Some costs presented as fixed monthly charges cannot be converted into per unit costs without data on current monthly volumes. Even if the information were provided as an average price per unit, the data are not representative of the prevailing price in terms of the average actually paid by all customers in a particular consuming sector. The posted prices are provided as they pertain to either customers of the local distribution companies (LDC’s) in the State or customers of the marketers within the State.
Therefore, EIA proposed to conduct a survey of natural gas marketers in order to accurately estimate the actual prices paid. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) granted permission for EIA to establish data collection activities of natural gas marketers in 12 States and the District of Columbia. Respondents were selected to report data for States with active customer choice programs; data are only collected for the States of Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Virginia, West Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and the District of Columbia. EIA was concerned about residential and commercial coverage and missing price data in these States. EIA estimates that the current EIA-910 survey frame brings the percentage of volumes represented by published prices in the commercial sector to 100 percent in those areas. If this estimate were to change in the future, the selection of additional States would be based on the percentage of consumption sold by marketers and growth patterns in State customer choice programs. As such, EIA is proposing to no longer collect data in Massachusetts beginning in 2009 as the percentage of natural gas sold by marketers has declined.
Posted rates that pertain only to prices imposed on customers of the local distribution companies are problematic. Even if they measure the average prices received by the local distribution companies, the rates are not necessarily comparable to prices paid by customers of the marketers. The posted prices are for current offerings for purchase or represent current averages paid by local distribution company (LDC) customers. In either case, the prices are not reliable estimators of prices actually paid in the State. If the prices are for new transactions with the LDC, sometimes referred to as a recourse rate, they are for incremental sales and, especially during times of significant price movement, are not good measures of average prices even for the LDC sales. If the prices are average prices received by the LDC, there remains the issue of determining the price paid by the customers of the marketers. As marketers, including affiliates of the LDC itself, gain market share, the importance of reliable estimates for marketer sales increases. When posted prices are for marketers, they represent terms for new transactions that are posted as a way to attract new sales. As such, the prices are a marginal figure, and prices paid for sales conducted under established arrangements would not be reliable estimates of average prices paid by all customers of the marketer.
EIA compiles and incorporates the EIA-910 data collected from marketers who sell natural gas to residential and commercial customers into EIA’s monthly and annual natural gas databases to improve the completeness and accuracy of EIA’s price estimates. Data from the EIA-910 will supplement information already tabulated and published in EIA’s publications. The data will also be used in EIA’s modeling and analytical efforts, and to answer questions from Federal policymakers, Congress, and the general public. These data are needed for policy making; for assessing supply, demand and price developments within the industry; and for assessing the competitiveness of the industry. The data are not intended to be collected for regulatory purposes and no rulemaking is involved.
As directed by the Secretary of Energy, EIA developed a survey instrument and report format that provides a data series for natural gas in underground storage similar to that formerly published by the American Gas Association (AGA). AGA began data collection in 1994 and discontinued its data collection on May 1, 2002. EIA initiated data collection on March 15, 2002 under an emergency clearance (ICR 1905-0202). The emergency clearance allowed EIA to survey a sample of underground storage operators on a weekly basis to continue the data series.
With the approval of the emergency clearance, EIA designed and developed a data processing system, selected and contacted sample members, worked on initial data quality problems, and released weekly reports beginning on May 9, 2002. EIA also developed estimates of several prior weeks. The release of several weeks of EIA data provided EIA analysts, policymakers, and other data users the opportunity to compare those weeks of AGA data with EIA data. A delay in the approval and implementation of the survey would have resulted in a break or disruption in this data series, which is relied upon by policymakers, commodity market analysts, and industry experts.
The EIA-912 data are used to respond to requests from industry to provide weekly measures of natural gas underground storage operations. EIA uses the data to prepare analytical products assessing storage operations in the three geographical regions of the survey and the impact of those operations on supplies available for the winter heating season.
EIA is proposing no changes to the Form EIA-912 form and instructions.
A3. Technological Considerations to Reduce Burden
The survey forms may be completed using an Excel spreadsheet or a text-processing (e.g., MS Word) version. Form EIA-176 is also available to respondents as an electronic filing system and can be downloaded from the EIA website. Due to time constraints on the weekly survey, EIA-912 respondents are required to file by e-mail or facsimile.
A discussion of similar data items is provided below.
EIA‑176, “Annual Report of Natural and Supplemental Gas Supply and Disposition”
Certain data elements similar to those reported on the Form EIA‑176 are collected and compiled or estimated from other DOE surveys. Data on electric power sector consumption and price available from Forms EIA‑906, “Power Plant Report,” and EIA-423, “Monthly Report of Cost and Quality of Fuels for Electric Plants,” have been used for electric power sector consumption and price summaries to maintain consistency in published consumption information. Data collected on the Form EIA‑176 are for internal balancing of individual reports and for cross‑checking data collected on the Form EIA‑906. This cross‑check enables the EIA to identify misreporting or double reporting by electric power consumers, a benefit which far outweighs the negligible burden involved. The inclusion of lines for reporting deliveries to electric power generators and volumes transported to electric power generators for the account of others allows the respondent to account for all volumes of natural gas delivered to end users. The respondent can then perform reasonableness checks on the supply/disposition balance and volumes unaccounted for. This internal check is designed to eliminate some follow-up calls and reduce reporting burden for the respondent.
Production information is collected from State agencies and the Department of Interior, Minerals Management Service, in the Form EIA‑895 survey. Some production information is needed from a few respondents to the Form EIA‑176 for internal balancing and verification and, more importantly, as a weighting factor for imputing industry‑wide quantities for other factors, e.g., gas used in lease operations. These data on the EIA-176 represent approximately 17 percent of natural gas production and cannot be used to determine total monthly production by State.
Certain data collected in the Form EIA‑176 survey are similar to data reported by interstate natural gas pipeline companies on FERC Form 2, “Annual Report of Major Natural Gas Companies.” However, the content and format of the FERC Form 2 are not directly comparable to the data requirements of the Form EIA‑176 survey, particularly in terms of State specific, physical custody data. State‑by‑State data necessary to develop individual State gas balances, compatible with data collected from respondents other than interstate pipeline companies on the Form EIA‑176, cannot be extracted from the FERC Form 2 report. The tracking of movements of natural gas across State lines and tracking of flows of natural gas from production areas to end users are two of the essential purposes of the EIA-176 survey. Transport of natural gas across State lines is performed almost entirely by interstate pipeline companies and the volumes transported State-to-State are not reported on the FERC Form 2.
Each of the above mentioned systems collect data that are similar in some respects to data collected on the Form EIA‑176. However, with the exceptions noted, data collected cannot be reasonably substituted, in whole or in part, for data collected on the Form EIA‑176.
The form EIA-191M “Monthly Underground Natural Gas Storage Report” is a census of all underground storage operators. The form EIA-912 “Weekly Underground Natural Gas Storage Report” is collected from a sample of the respondents that report on EIA-191M. The form EIA-191M is used to produce estimates of natural gas underground storage levels on a monthly basis and also serves as a benchmark comparison for data collected on the EIA-912. The form EIA-912 data is used to produce the EIA web product, “Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (WNGSR)”. The WNGSR shows stocks of natural gas in storage and has been designated a Principle Federal Economic Indicator (PFEI).
EIA-757, “Processing Plant Survey”
Data similar to the monthly natural gas production information that would be collected on the Form EIA-757 are not currently gathered by EIA or any other organization.
EIA investigated alternative ways to obtain timely and precise natural gas processing plant information for use in assessing processing plant operations, damage and expected restoration during a supply emergency. The alternatives considered were use of monthly data from natural gas processors, Form EIA-816, Monthly Natural Gas Liquids Report, and a new survey of natural gas processing plants. In addition, a request for comments from interested persons was published in the Federal Register on January 30, 2007, (72 FR 4248). The Federal Register notice requested comments on any alternative sources for the information proposed to be collected in this new survey. No comments were received about alternative sources of data. EIA has determined that the new survey of processing plants is the only alternative that could be expected to satisfy EIA’s requirement for precise and timely natural gas monthly natural gas processing plant data during a supply emergency.
A summary of the review of the alternatives to the Form EIA757 follows: EIA has collected monthly data from operators of natural gas processing plants on Form EIA-816, “Monthly Natural Gas Liquids Report” (OMB No. 1905-0165) for many years. The survey collects information on the supply and disposition of natural gas liquids from operators of natural gas processing plants (which extract liquid hydrocarbons from a natural gas stream) and fractionators (which separate a liquid hydrocarbon stream into its component products.) EIA considered revising the form to collect additional information, in order to assess processing plant operations and capabilities during a natural gas supply emergency. EIA found that, in addition to not being sufficiently timely to provide information about emergency operations and constraints, certain aspects of the survey would result in undue burden and, further, would prevent the generation of reliable information about processing plant operations, capabilities and recovery during a supply emergency. The current reporting lag for data collected on Form EIA-816 is 60 days after the end of the month and this is insufficient for EIA to satisfy the need for information during a supply emergency. For instance, if a supply emergency happened on September 4, data from the Form EIA-816 would not be available until the end of December. The use of Form EIA-816 would not satisfy EIA’s need for timely information during a natural gas supply emergency.
EIA‑857, “Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and Deliveries to Consumers”
Certain elements of data similar to these collected on the Form EIA‑857 are available to EIA from other surveys or sources but none that could be used or modified for the purposes described in A2 above.
Monthly information on the average price of natural gas to residential consumers is available from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) but the price is only for given quantities of gas in major metropolitan areas. Volume information is not available. The data cannot be presented by State and do not represent average prices of quantities actually consumed.
Annual information is available by State on purchased gas prices, consumer prices by market sector, and consumption by market sector from the Form EIA‑176, “Annual Report of Natural and Supplemental Gas Supply and Disposition.” The Form EIA‑857 complements the Form EIA‑176 by providing current information reflecting monthly and seasonal variations. The Form EIA‑176 information is used to develop the Form EIA‑857 sample frame and provides an annual control for testing and adjusting the Form EIA‑857 estimation procedures.
The Form EIA-906 survey of power producers collects fuel used for electric power generation. The data are used as the measure of natural gas consumed by this sector. However the data are also collected on the EIA-857 to assure that gas delivery agents have a full list of appropriate sectors to completely account for all gas deliveries.
EIA-895, “Annual Quantity and Value of Natural Gas Production Report”
Annual natural gas production data are collected by EIA from a sample of operators of oil and gas wells on Form EIA-23, “Annual Survey of Domestic Oil and Gas Reserves.” This collection does not duplicate Form EIA-895 because the Form EIA-23 collects only a single production number which represents gross withdrawals less gas returned to a formation for repressuring, pressure maintenance and cycling, and less nonhydrocarbon gases removed in treating or processing operations. The EIA-895 collects volumes for each of the elements that make up the single EIA-23 volume.
The EIA-176 form also collects some annual natural gas production data in order to provide internal balancing and verification of the data filed on the form. The respondent universe for the EIA-176 includes only those operators of oil and gas wells who distribute gas to end users or operate natural gas pipelines. This represents approximately 17 percent of natural gas production. Therefore, these data cannot be used to determine total annual production by State as provided on the Form EIA-895.
The data elements collected on the EIA-910 are not duplicated in other surveys or sources.
See discussion of Form EIA-191.
Data requested provide the minimum information necessary to fulfill EIA's responsibility to provide meaningful, timely, objective, and accurate energy data. Respondents to the survey complete only those data elements applicable to their operations. For small firms, fewer data elements are generally applicable and are easily obtained from generally existing records. EIA staff members are also available during normal business hours to provide assistance by telephone.
EIA encourages electronic reporting on all natural gas surveys.
For the EIA‑857 survey, burden on all gas companies has been reduced to the minimum necessary to achieve the desired accuracy. The sampling plan for the EIA‑857 allows for selection of smaller companies on a rotating basis.
Companies responding to the Form EIA‑191 and EIA-912 are not small businesses. Responses to the Form EIA‑895 are filed by State agencies.
The EIA-176 is required of all companies with natural gas deliveries to end-use customers regardless of size. However, the majority of the small-sized respondents only have to fill out a small percentage of the data elements on the form as the majority of the questions asked are not applicable to small-sized respondents. Therefore, the burden to small businesses on the EIA-176 is the minimum necessary to gather the information required.
The Form EIA-910 survey burden is the minimum necessary to gather the information required. Similarly, the natural gas processing plant operators that complete Form EIA-757 are not expected to be small businesses or other small entities.
If the Form EIA-757 collection is not conducted, EIA would not be able to meet its goal, and could not provide essential natural gas processing plant information prior to and during a supply emergency. Less frequent reporting would prohibit EIA from meeting its mandate of providing timely and reliable energy information. The frequency of reporting on Schedule B will be determined at the time the survey is activated in response to a supply emergency
There are no special circumstances for these collections.
A request for comments from interested persons was solicited in a notice describing the proposed extension of the forms and proposed modifications to each form. The notice was published April 2, 2008, in the Federal Register, pp. 17964-17966. An announcement of the Federal Register notice was sent to a list of trade groups and others interested in natural gas data programs. In addition, the notice and proposed versions of the survey forms were posted on EIA’s website.
As of June 2, 2008, two responses to the Federal Register Notice were received which are summarized below.
Comment: National Energy Marketers Association (NEM) and InfiniteEnergy Inc./IntelligentEnergy, expressed opposition to EIA’s proposed changes to EIA-910 which included the addition of the States of AK, CA, ME, OK, and WY, asking respondents to report by each local distribution company in which they serve customers instead of on a State-basis, and discontinuing the option of reporting in therms and allowing data to be reported in thousand cubic feet only. NEM did not comment about the proposal to discontinue data collection in the States of MA and MI.
Response: After careful consideration of the comments and holding a conference call with NEM and several of its member marketers, EIA decided against adding any additional States for collection EIA-910 but will continue with plans to no longer collect data in Massachusetts given the decline in the percent of natural gas sales by marketers in that State. EIA also will continue to allow data to be reported in therms. EIA has also decided not to pursue asking marketers to report by local distribution company territory at this time.
Comment: United States Department of Commerce, Economics and Statistics Administration, Bureau of Economic Administration, strongly supported the continuation of forms cited in the Federal Register notice. BEA uses information collected on Forms EIA-176 and EIA-895 to prepare the U.S. input-output accounts. Also, Forms EIA-176, EIA-857, EIA-910, and EIA-895 are used in the annual estimates of gross state product (GSP) and gross domestic product (GDP).
Response: EIA acknowledged BEA for their response.
No payments or gifts are made to the survey respondents.
A10. Provisions for Confidentiality
EIA does not consider information collected on Form EIA-176 and EIA-895 as confidential. Users are able to access company level data reported on Form EIA-176 directly from EIA’s website through a customized query system at http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/applications/eia176query.html.
Data collected on Form EIA-895 are reported in aggregate form at the State level by State agencies. All respondents to Form EIA-895 are State agencies; no individual company data are collected on this form.
The following statement of the confidential provisions below is included in the instructions to the Forms EIA-176, EIA-191 Annual, and EIA-895:
Information reported on Form EIA-xxx will not be treated as confidential and will be publicly released in identifiable form. In addition to the use of the information by EIA for statistical purposes, the information may be used for any non-statistical purposes such as administrative, regulatory, law enforcement, or adjudicatory purposes.
Forms EIA-910 and EIA-912 collect confidential data under the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act (CIPSEA). These data are considered confidential and will be used exclusively for statistical purposes. The instructions to Forms EIA-910 and EIA-912 contain the following data confidentiality notice:
The information you provide on Form EIA-xxx will be used for statistical purposes only. All the information the Energy Information Administration (EIA) collects for this survey about your company is confidential by law. In accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 (Title 5 of Public Law 107-347) and other applicable Federal laws, your responses will not be disclosed in identifiable form without your consent. By law, every EIA employee, as well as every agent, is subject to a jail term, a fine, or both if he or she makes public ANY identifiable information you reported.
Forms EIA-191, EIA-757, and EIA-857 collect data that EIA will protect. The instructions for each of the surveys will include the following pledge of protection:
The survey will be mandatory pursuant to the Federal Energy Administration (FEA) Act of 1974, Public Law 93-275, and will be protected 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. 522, the Department of Energy regulations, 10 C.F.R. §1004.11, implementing the FOIA, and the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. §1905.
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; to any Committee of Congress, the Government Accountability 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 non-statistical 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.
The forms contain no questions of a sensitive nature.
A12. Estimates of Respondent Burden Hours
See Table 1 for the estimates of respondent burden for the individual forms contained in this package. The overall annual respondent burden is estimated to be 52,569 hours. The estimated costs to respondents for the burden hours are estimated to be $3,259,278 (52,569 hours times $62 per hour).
Table 1. Estimate of Respondent Burden
_____________________________________________________________________________
Total
Number Number Burden Annual
Number of of Reports of Annual Hours per Burden
Form Respondents Annually Responses Response Hours
______________________________________________________________________________
EIA‑176 2,000 1 2,000 12.0 24,000
EIA-191A 122 1 122 1 122
EIA-757 Sch. A 500 .33 165 .5 83
EIA-757 Sch. B* 1 1 1 1.5 1.5
EIA‑857 380 12 4,560 3.5 15,960
EIA-895 32 13 416 .5 208
EIA-912 70 52 3,640 1 3,640
Total 2,737 104 14, 888 3.53 52,569 ______________________________________________________________________________
* EIA-757 Schedule B will be collected only in response to a significant disruption in natural gas supply. The sample, frequency and hence burden will be determined at the time the survey is activated and such information will be provided to OMB. 1 respondent will be accounted for Schedule B since it is undetermined when the schedule will be activated. The accounting of 1 respondent follows the methodology for all EIA stand-by surveys.
A13. Estimate of Cost Burden to Respondents - Capital/Start-up Costs and Operation/
Maintenance/Purchases of Services
The EIA estimates that there are no additional costs to respondents associated with the surveys in the Natural Gas Data Collection Program Package other than the costs associated with the burden hours as set forth in item A12 above.
The seven surveys in the clearance package are included in the Annual Operating Plan for the Natural Gas Division. The annualized costs for this data program are estimated to be $2,200,000 in FY08.
Overall the burden for the Natural Gas Data Collection Program Package is estimated to be 52,569 hours annually for all the forms included in this clearance package. The information collections in this request are currently approved under OMB control number ICR 1905-0175 for a total existing burden of 53,284 hours. This request will result in a net decrease of 715 hours for all the forms in this clearance package. The changes are due to an corrected break-out of burden between the EIA-191M and EIA-191A, (resulting in -170 hours-adjustment) , a decrease in the number of respondents in the EIA-857 (resulting in -630 hours-adjustment), and the addition of the EIA-757A and EIA-757B into this ICR (resulting in +85 hours). The overall change in the total responses per year has decreased by 14. The decrease is due to -180 respondents on the EIA-857 due to selecting a smaller sample, and an increase of 166 responses due to the adding of the EIA-757A&B form to this ICR. (-180+166=-14).
The data collected, reviewed, and tabulated by the EIA from the Forms EIA‑176, EIA-191 and EIA‑895 will be merged with data collected in the Forms EIA‑816, EIA‑64A, EIA‑906, and EIA-423 surveys to develop quantitative overviews of gas available to each of the various States and the sources of such gas; gas used or otherwise disposed of in each of the various States; average wellhead prices, average prices of gas produced and purchased from producers; and the number of consumers, total and average quantities consumed, and total and average prices paid by consumers by market sector in each of the various States. The data will be used as input to the State Energy Data System, the Short-Term Integrated Forecasting System, the National Energy Modeling System, and other supply, demand, and price forecast models. They are published in the Natural Gas Annual, and provide input to the Natural Gas Monthly, Annual Energy Review, Annual Energy Outlook, Monthly Energy Review, Short-Term Energy Outlook, and State Energy Profiles.
The time schedule for the Natural Gas Annual (EIA‑176, EIA-191, and EIA-895) data collection, tabulation, and publication is shown in the table below.
EIA Form |
Due date |
Extension Date |
Processing completion |
Posted on website |
EIA-176 |
March 1 |
April 1 |
September 30 |
November 30 |
EIA-191 (Annual Schedule) |
February 20 |
NA |
September 30 |
November 30 |
EIA-895 |
March 1 |
NA |
September 30 |
November 30 |
Monthly Surveys
Data gathered monthly on the Forms EIA‑191, EIA-857, and EIA-910 will be reviewed, verified, and aggregated to be used as input for the Natural Gas Monthly and the Monthly Energy Review. In addition, data from the Form EIA-191 will be used in specific studies of peak day supplies to major market areas, utilization of storage capacity, and the load leveling function of storage in the market.
Individual company reports will be checked for reasonableness by comparing current reports with prior responses. Mathematical calculations will be checked for accuracy and all data will be checked for internal consistency. Respondents will be required to refile reports containing any inconsistencies or errors.
A typical time schedule for the monthly EIA-191, EIA-857, and EIA-910 data collection tabulation and publication is shown below using August data release for the example:
Natural Gas Monthly – August issue
EIA Form |
Data month |
Due Date |
Processing complete |
Posted on website |
EIA-191 |
June |
June 20 |
July 26 |
August 4 |
EIA-857 |
June |
June 30 |
July 26 |
August 4 |
EIA-910 |
June |
June 30 |
July 26 |
NA |
A typical time schedule for the weekly EIA-912 data collection, tabulation and publication is shown below using the first several weeks of August as example:
Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report – August issues
EIA Form |
Data week |
Due Date |
Processing complete |
Posted on website |
EIA-912 |
August 1 |
August 1 |
August 6 |
August 7 |
EIA-912 |
August 8 |
August 8 |
August 13 |
August 14 |
EIA-912 |
August 15 |
August 15 |
August 20 |
August 21 |
EIA takes no exception to the certification statement.
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Version 6/3/02 |
| Author | EIA |
| Last Modified By | GS1 |
| File Modified | 2008-12-01 |
| File Created | 2008-12-01 |