Natural Gas Data Collection Program Package

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
Washington, DC 20585

Form Approved
OMB No. 1905-0175
Expiration Date: 12/31/2011

MONTHLY UNDERGROUND GAS STORAGE REPORT
FORM EIA-191M
INSTRUCTIONS
PURPOSE

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) Form EIA-191M,
“Monthly Underground Gas Storage Report,” provides data on the
operations of all active underground storage facilities. Data are
collected pursuant to the Federal Energy Administration (FEA) Act of
1974, Public Law 93-275. This report is mandatory under the FEA Act.
The data appear in the EIA publications Monthly Energy Review,
Natural Gas Annual, and Natural Gas Monthly.

All volumes should be reported in thousand cubic feet (Mcf). Negative
values should not be filed on any part of the Form EIA-191M.
Provide data for all fields your company operates. You may copy
additional forms or download additional electronic files when
submitting data for more than 2 fields.

All companies that operate underground natural gas storage fields in
the United States must provide the information requested.

Reporting of preliminary or estimated data is encouraged if necessary
to meet the due date. Indicate when revised reports are submitted by
checking the box. A revised report is required if actual or corrected data
vary more than plus or minus 4 percent from the data previously
reported as estimated data.

WHEN TO REPORT

SPECIFIC INSTRUCTIONS

Information requested must be provided within 20 days after the end of
the report month. Twelve reports are required per calendar year.

PART 1: RESPONDENT IDENTIFICATION DATA

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

If additional fields are acquired, or storage activities begin in a new
facility during the year, you are required to file the Annual Underground
Gas Storage Report (Form EIA-191A) when initial activity begins.

COPIES OF THE
INSTRUCTIONS

SURVEY

FORM

AND

Please provide up-to-date company information.
EIA ID Number: Complete the 10-digit identification number
assigned by EIA. Companies operating in more than one State should
note that a unique number has been assigned for operations in each
State. In the event an identification number has not been assigned,
leave the space blank and contact the EIA at (877) 800-5261, a number
will then be assigned by the EIA.

Copies in portable document format (PDF) and spreadsheet format
(XLS) are available on EIA's website at:

Resubmission: Check the box if report is a revised report. If the report
is an original, leave this space blank.

www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/survey_forms/nat_survey_forms.
html

Company Name: Enter the company name.

You can also access the materials by following these steps:
• Go to EIA's website at www.eia.doe.gov
• Click on the Natural Gas category (this takes you to EIA's
natural gas information page).
• Click on the Survey Forms link located in the reference box in
the lower right corner.
• Select the materials you want.
Files must be saved to your personal computer. Data cannot be entered
interactively on the website.

HOW TO REPORT
Instructions on where to report via mail, fax, secure file transfer, or
email are printed on Part 2 of Form EIA-191M.

SECURE FILE TRANSFER
Forms may be submitted through the Secure File Transfer System. The
secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) is an industry standard
method to send information over the web using a secure, encrypted
process. All information is protected by 128-bit encryption to maintain
the privacy and confidentiality of transmitted data. The Secure File
Transfer System may be accessed through the following web address:
https://VLJQRQ.eia.doe.gov/upload/noticeoog.jsp.

Contact Information: Enter the current contact information.
PART 2: SUBMISSION INFORMATION
Provides information for the four options available for submitting your
completed Form EIA-191M: (1) mail; (2) fax; (3) email; and (4) Secure
File Transfer.
PART 3: MONTHLY GAS STORAGE DATA
All information requested in this part of the form must be reported each
time the form is submitted.
Information should be provided for your field/s as defined below in the
definitions. Report all volumes in Thousand Cubic Feet (Mcf), 14.73
psia-60o F.
In most cases, net injections or withdrawals should correspond to the
difference between total gas volume for the current and prior report
period.
Comments: Use the space provided to describe any unusual or
substantially different aspects of your monthly operations that affect the
data reported.

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DEFINITIONS
Base (Cushion) Gas: The volume of gas needed as a permanent
inventory to maintain adequate storage reservoir pressures and
deliverability rates.
Injections: The volume of gas injected into storage reservoirs during
the report month.
Total Gas in Storage: The sum of base gas plus working gas.
Total Storage Field Capacity: The maximum volume of base and
working gas that can be stored in an underground storage facility in
accordance with its design, which comprises the physical
characteristics of the reservoir, installed equipment, and operating
procedures particular to the site.
Withdrawals: The volume of gas withdrawn from storage reservoirs
during the report month.
Working (Top Storage) Gas: The volume of gas in the storage
reservoir that is in addition to the base or cushion gas.

SANCTIONS
The timely submission of Form EIA-191M by those required to report
is mandatory under Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy Administration
(FEA) Act of 1974, (Public Law 93-275), as amended. Failure to
respond may result in a civil penalty of not more than $2,750 a day for
each violation, or a fine of not more than $5,000 for each willful
violation. 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 without bond. In such civil action,
the court may also issue mandatory injunctions commanding any
person to comply with these reporting requirements.

PROVISIONS FOR CONFIDENTIALITY
Unlike Form EIA-191A, information reported on Form EIA-191M 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. §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 EIA-191M survey 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.

FILING FORMS WITH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
AND ESTIMATED REPORTING BURDEN
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated
to average 2.4 hours per response, including 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 the Energy Information Administration,
Statistics and Methods Group EI-70, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW,
Washington, DC 20585; and to the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Washington,
DC 20503.

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