Supporting Statement A PSRS Jan-2020

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Supporting Statement for Petroleum Supply Reporting System

1. Part A: Justification

January, 2020

Form EIA-800 Weekly Refinery and Fractionator Report

Form EIA-802 Weekly Product Pipeline Report

Form EIA-803 Weekly Crude Oil Stocks Report

Form EIA-804 Weekly Imports Report

Form EIA-805 Weekly Bulk Terminal Report

Form EIA-809 Weekly Oxygenate Report

Form EIA-810 Monthly Refinery Report

Form EIA-812 Monthly Product Pipeline Report

Form EIA-813 Monthly Crude Oil Report

Form EIA-814 Monthly Imports Report

Form EIA-815 Monthly Bulk Terminal Report

Form EIA-816 Monthly Natural Gas Plant Liquids Report

Form EIA-817 Monthly Tanker and Barge Movement Report

Form EIA-819 Monthly Biofuels, Fuels from Non-Biogenic Wastes, Fuel Oxygenates, Isooctane, and Isooctene Report

Form EIA-820 Annual Refinery Report

OMB No. 1905-0165

Independent Statistics & Analysis

www.eia.gov

U.S. Department of Energy

Washington, DC 20585

Table of Contents

Part A: Justification i

Introduction 1

A.1. Legal Justification 10

A.2. Needs and Uses of Data 12

A.3. Use of Technology 15

A.4. Efforts to Identify Duplication 15

A.5. Provisions for Reducing Burden on Small Businesses 20

A.6. Consequences of Less-Frequent Reporting 20

A.7. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.5 21

A.8. Summary of Consultations Outside of the Agency 21

A.9. Payments or Gifts to Respondents 24

A.10. Provisions for Protection of Information 24

A.11. Justification for Sensitive Questions 25

A.12. Estimate of Respondent Burden Hours and Cost 26

A.13. Annual Cost to the Federal Government 26

A.14. Changes in Burden 27

A.15. Reasons for Changes in Burden 28

A.16. Collection, Tabulation, and Publication Plans 29

A.17. OMB Number and Expiration Date 31

A.18. Certification Statement 31

Introduction

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is the statistical and analytical agency within the Department of Energy (DOE). The EIA mission is to collect, analyze, and disseminate independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment. EIA is the Nation’s premier source of energy information and, by law, its data, analyses, and forecasts are independent of approval by any other officer or employee of the United States Government. EIA conducts a relevant, reliable, and timely data collection program that covers the full spectrum of energy sources, end uses, and energy flows; generates short- and long-term domestic and international energy projections; and performs informative energy analyses. EIA communicates its statistical and analytical products primarily through its website and customer contact center.

To meet this obligation, EIA’s Office of Petroleum and Biofuels Statistics (PBS) uses the Petroleum Supply Reporting System (PSRS) to collect data on U.S. supplies of crude oil, petroleum products, and related biofuels. The PSRS is comprised of six weekly surveys that make up the Weekly Petroleum Supply Reporting System (WPSRS) and ten monthly/annual surveys that make up the Monthly Petroleum Supply Reporting System (MPSRS).

EIA extends the PSRS surveys for three years with changes to all of the forms under OMB 1905-0165. Below is a network diagram showing the relationship of the surveys in this ICR to each other and how EIA collects different pieces of information to assess supply conditions in the crude oil and upstream refined petroleum product markets.

Table 1. Petroleum Supply Reporting System Data Collection Forms and their Descriptions

Survey	Description
Form EIA-800 Weekly Refinery and Fractionator Report	Respondents are a sample of operators of petroleum refineries and fractionators. Data collected include input and stocks of refinery feedstocks and net production and stocks of selected finished petroleum products.
Form EIA-802 Weekly Product Pipeline Report	Respondents are a sample of petroleum product pipeline companies on a PAD and sub-PAD District basis. Data collected include end-of-week stock levels of selected petroleum products which include stocks of NGPLs and LRGs (including propane/propylene), fuel ethanol, finished motor gasoline, motor gasoline blending components, kerosene-type jet fuel, kerosene, and distillate fuel oil by sulfur content.
Form EIA-803 Weekly Crude Oil Stocks Report	Respondents are a sample of companies that carry or store 1,000 barrels or more of crude oil. Respondents include gathering and trunk pipeline companies (interstate, intrastate, and intracompany pipelines), terminal operators, storers of crude oil (except refineries), and transporters of Alaskan crude oil by water. Data collected include end-of-week crude oil stocks by PAD District, stocks of Alaskan crude oil in transit by water and stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma.
Form EIA-804 Weekly Imports Report	Respondents are a sample of importers of record who import petroleum into the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Data collected includes imports of crude oil, (including imports for delivery to the SPR), NGPLs and LRGs (including propane/propylene), fuel ethanol, finished motor gasoline, motor gasoline blending components, kerosene-type jet fuel, kerosene, distillate fuel oil by sulfur content, residual fuel oil, and other petroleum products.
Form EIA-805 Weekly Bulk Terminal Report	Respondents are a sample of operators of motor gasoline blending plants. Data collected include input, production, and ending stocks of oxygenates, renewable fuels (including fuel ethanol), NGPLs and LRGs, finished motor gasoline, motor gasoline blending components, kerosene-type jet fuel, kerosene, and distillate fuel oil by sulfur content.
Form EIA-809 Weekly Oxygenate Report	Respondents are all operators of facilities that produce fuel ethanol located in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Data collected include denatured and undenatured fuel ethanol production and end-of-week stocks.
Survey	Description
Form EIA-810 Monthly Refinery Report	Respondents are all operating and idle refineries, as well as blending terminals located in the 50 States, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Guam, and other U.S. possessions. Data collected include information regarding the balance between the supply (beginning stocks, receipts, and production) and disposition (inputs, shipments, fuel use and losses, and ending stocks) of crude oil and refined products located at refineries. In addition, storage capacity is collected for working, shell in operation, and shell idle for several major product groupings.
Form EIA-812 Monthly Product Pipeline Report	Respondents are operators of all petroleum product pipeline companies. Data reported include end-of-month stock levels of products in pipelines and working tanks, as well as movements of products transported by pipeline between PAD Districts.
Form EIA-813 Monthly Crude Oil Report	Respondents are all companies which carry or store 1,000 barrels or more of crude oil. Respondents include gathering and trunk pipeline companies (including interstate, intrastate, and intracompany pipelines), terminal operators, companies that store crude oil (except refineries), and companies transporting crude oil by water in the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Data collected includes information on end-of-month stocks of crude oil, by PAD District, at pipeline/tank farms, in Cushing Oklahoma and Alaskan crude oil in transit by water. In addition, receipts of domestic crude oil by the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, movements of crude oil by pipeline between PAD Districts and storage capacity are collected for working, shell in operation, and shell idle.
Form EIA-814 Monthly Imports Report	Respondents are each importer of record who imports crude oil or petroleum products into the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands other U.S. possessions, and Foreign Trade Zones located in the 50 States and the District of Columbia; and from Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and U.S. possessions into the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Data collected includes imports of crude oil, (including imports for delivery to the SPR), NGPLs and LRGs (including propane/propylene), fuel ethanol, finished motor gasoline, motor gasoline blending components, kerosene-type jet fuel, kerosene, distillate fuel oil by sulfur content, residual fuel oil, and other petroleum products.
Form EIA-815 Monthly Bulk Terminal Report	Respondents are all operators of bulk terminals located in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and other U.S. possessions with a total bulk shell storage capacity of 50,000 barrels or more, and/or receives petroleum products by tanker, barge, or pipeline. Data collected includes information on the balance between the supply (beginning stocks, receipts, and production), and disposition (inputs, shipments, fuel use and losses, and ending stocks) of refined products and renewable fuels from bulk terminals. In addition, storage capacity is collected for working, shell in operation, and shell idle for several major product groupings.
Form EIA-816 Monthly Natural Gas Plant Liquids Report	Respondents are operators of all facilities designed to extract liquid hydrocarbons from a natural gas stream (natural gas processing plants) and/or to separate a liquid hydrocarbon stream into its component products (fractionators). Data collected includes information regarding the balance between the supply (beginning stocks, receipts, and production) and disposition (input, shipments, fuel use and losses, and ending stocks) of natural gas liquids. In addition, conversion of normal butane to isobutane at isomerization plants is also reported.
Form EIA-817 Monthly Tanker and Barge Movement Report	Respondents are all companies that have custody of crude oil or petroleum products transported by tanker or barge between PAD Districts. Companies that have custody of crude oil or petroleum products originating from a PAD District and transported to the Panama Canal with the intent that the crude oil or petroleum products be further transported to another PAD District must also report. Data collected include shipments of crude oil and petroleum products between PAD Districts.
Form EIA-819 Monthly Biofuels, Fuels from Non-Biogenic Wastes, Fuel Oxygenates, Isooctane, and Isooctene Report (Previously the EIA-819 Monthly Oxygenate Report and the EIA-22M Monthly Biodiesel Production Report)	Respondents are operators of all facilities that produce one or more of the following fuel and feedstock products: fuel ethanol; biodiesel; renewable diesel fuel, heating oil, jet fuel, naphtha, gasoline, and other renewable fuels and feedstocks; fuel oxygenates and non-refinery producers of motor gasoline blending components including operators of merchant plants producing iso-octane and other gasoline blending components. Geographic coverage includes facilities located in the 50 states, District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and other U.S. territories. Data collected include information regarding the balance between the supply (beginning stocks, receipts, and production) and disposition (inputs, shipments, plant use and losses, and ending stocks) of biofuels and oxygenates at the plant during the report month. Production capacities and consumption of fuels and feedstocks are also collected.
Form EIA-820 Annual Refinery Report	Respondents are operators of all operating and idle petroleum refineries (including new refineries under construction) and refineries shut down during the previous year, located in the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, and other U.S. possessions. Data collected include fuel, electricity, and steam purchased for consumption at the refinery; refinery receipts of crude oil by method of transportation; current and projected capacities for atmospheric crude oil distillation, downstream charge, and production capacities.

Description of Changes

Changes to one or more petroleum and biofuel supply surveys are summarized in table 1.

Table 2. Summary of changes in 2019 to petroleum and biofuel supply surveys

Change number	Surveys Affected	Changes to survey(s)	Reason for change
1	EIA-800	Add separate reporting of Inputs and Production of Unfinished Oils	This change separates some of the data currently included in total input and splits it up to clarify the data to be reported and improves utility of the data for analysis. This change does not affect the burden per response for Form EIA-800. Companies currently separately measure their inputs and production of unfinished oils because these figures are required to calculate total net input (code 001). The requirement to report input and production quantities of unfinished oils separately from total net input does not change the reporting burden because respondents have this information in their databases already, to currently report on Form EIA-800.
2	802, 805, 812, 815, 817	Discontinue reporting stocks of refinery olefins.	EIA is able to meet its data needs by collecting and publishing inventories of natural gas liquids (including propane), data on stocks of olefins that are not produced at a refinery are unnecessary.
3	810, 813, 815	a) Discontinue collecting storage capacity as of September 30, but continue to collect storage capacity once each year as of March 31. b) Rename “idle” storage capacity to “Temporarily Out of Service”.	a) EIA determined that storage capacity data collected once each year (as of March 31) is adequate for policy analysis and market assessment. b) EIA found the phrase "temporarily out of service" is more consistent than the term "idle" for describing storage capacity not in use at the time it is reported on EIA surveys.
4	810, 812, 814, 815, 817	Replace biofuel reporting categories identified on current surveys as biomass-based diesel fuel, "other" renewable diesel fuel, and "other" renewable fuels with biodiesel, renewable diesel fuel, and other renewable fuels and intermediate products.	These changes are to clarify the products to be reported on EIA surveys and to improve utility of U.S. and regional data.
5	810, 812, 815	Discontinue collecting data for MTBE, ETBE, and other oxygenates.	Stock and other data for MTBE, ETBE, and other fuel oxygenates at refineries and terminals no longer have utility for U.S. and regional volumetric balance data produced by EIA. Production of MTBE, ETBE, and other fuel oxygenates remains useful however and will continue to be collected on Form EIA-819.
6	812	Discontinue collection of renewable fuel movements, except ethanol	Only small amounts of biofuels are moved by pipeline. The data have limited utility and discontinuing this collection reduces reporting burden.
7	812	Discontinue collection of residual fuel stocks and movements	Form EIA-812 is a survey of petroleum products pipelines. Residual fuel oil is a product not typically moved by pipeline.
8	815	Add collection of stocks of NGL’s held at petrochemical plants.	Petrochemical plant operators are a special class of end user storage because they are able to function in ways that are similar to the commercial terminals surveyed by EIA. Including petrochemical plant storage in EIA data will improve accuracy of the data and improve market assessment of NGL supply availability. This change does not affect the burden per response for Form EIA-815. There is no change to the data elements collected on this form. EIA is adding petrochemical plants as new respondents to collect information on their NGL stocks.
9	810, 812, 815	Rename pentanes plus to natural gasoline	Pentanes plus and natural gasoline are equivalent. Renaming will make the forms and instructions consistent with the rest of the EIA website.
10	819, 22M	Combine Form EIA-22M and Form EIA-819 into one report to cover all biofuels (including renewable fuels not currently tracked on any EIA survey), fuel oxygenates (ETBE, MTBE) and non-refinery producers of isooctane. Modify the report to collect consistent volumetric balance data on petroleum and biofuel blending at biofuel production plants. Collect feedstock inputs for all biofuels. Collect annual fuels consumed by producers.	Form EIA-819 improves accuracy and consistency of biofuel and oxygenate production and blending including blending with petroleum fuels. Form EIA-819 expands the scope of EIA biofuel data collection to include producers of renewable diesel fuel and other renewable fuels that are currently out of scope for EIA surveys.
11	22M	Survey form is discontinued	All data elements reported on Form EIA-22M will be collected on Form EIA-819.

A.1. Legal Justification

The authority for this mandatory data collection is provided by the following provisions:

1. 15 U.S.C. §772(b) states:

   1. "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 Administrator 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 Administrator may prescribe by regulation or order as necessary or appropriate for the proper exercise of functions under this chapter."

2. 15 U.S.C. §764(b) states that to the extent authorized by subsection (a), the Administrator shall:

   1. advise the President and the Congress with respect to the establishment of a comprehensive national energy policy in relation to the energy matters for which the Administration has responsibility, and, in coordination with the Secretary of State, the integration of domestic and foreign policies relating to energy resource management;

   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;

   3. develop effective arrangements for the participation of State and local governments in the resolution of energy problems;

   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;

   7. develop and oversee the implementation of equitable voluntary and mandatory energy conservation programs and promote efficiencies in the use of energy resources;

   8. develop and recommend policies on the import and export of energy resources;

   9. collect, evaluate, assemble, and analyze energy information on reserves, production, demand, and related economic data;

   10. work with business, labor, consumer and other interests and obtain their cooperation;

   11. in administering any pricing authority, provide by rule, for equitable allocation of all component costs of producing propane gas. Such rules may require that (a) only those costs directly related to the production of propane may be allocated by any producer to such gas for purposes of establishing any price for propane, and (b) prices for propane shall be based on the prices for propane in effect on May 15, 1973. The Administrator shall not allow costs attributable to changes in ownership and movement of propane gas where, in the opinion of the Administrator, changes in ownership and movement occur primarily for the purpose of establishing a higher price;

   12. perform such other functions as may be prescribed by law."

3. As the authority for invoking subsection (b), above, 15 U.S.C. §764(a) states:

   1. ”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 chapter;

      2. delegated to him by the President pursuant to specific authority vested in the President by law; and

      3. otherwise specifically vested in the Administrator by the Congress."

4. Additional authority for this information collection is provided by 15 U.S.C. §790(a) which states;

   1. “It shall be the duty of the Director to 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… to meet adequately the needs of…”

      1. the Department of Energy in carrying out its lawful functions;

      2. the Congress;

      3. other officers and employees of the United States in whom have been vested, or to whom have been delegated energy-related policy decision-making responsibilities;

      4. the States to the extent required by the Natural Gas Act [15 U.S.C. §717 et seq.] and the Federal Power Act [16 U.S.C. §791a et seq.].

   2. "At a minimum, the System shall contain such energy information as is necessary to carry out the Administration's statistical and forecasting activities, and shall include… 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 non-mineral energy resources and the production, distribution, and marketing of mineral fuels and electricity;

      2. the consumption of mineral fuels, non-mineral energy resources, and electricity by such classes, sectors, and regions as may be appropriate for the purposes of this chapter;

      3. the sensitivity of energy resource reserves, exploration, development, production, transportation, and consumption to economic factors, environmental constraints, technological improvements, and suitability of alternate energy sources;

      4. the comparability of energy information and statistics that are supplied by different sources;

      5. industrial, labor, and regional impacts of changes in patterns of energy supply and consumption;

      6. international aspects, economic and otherwise, of the evolving energy situation; and

      7. long-term relationships between energy supply and consumption in the United States and world communities.”

5. 42 U.S.C. 7101 states:

   1. As used in this chapter, unless otherwise provided or indicated by the context, the term the “Department” means the Department of Energy or any component thereof, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

   2. As used in this chapter (1) reference to “function” includes reference to any duty, obligation, power, authority, responsibility, right, privilege, and activity, or the plural thereof, as the case may be; and (2) reference to “perform”, when used in relation to functions, includes the undertaking, fulfillment, or execution of any duty or obligation; and the exercise of power, authority, rights, and privileges.

   3. As used in this chapter, “Federal lease” means an agreement which, for any consideration, including but not limited to, bonuses, rents, or royalties conferred and covenants to be observed, authorizes a person to explore for, or develop, or produce (or to do any or all of these) oil and gas, coal, oil shale, tar sands, and geothermal resources on lands or interests in lands under Federal jurisdiction.

A.2. Needs and Uses of Data

The purpose of the PSRS package of surveys is to collect detailed petroleum industry data to meet EIA’s mandates and energy data users’ needs for credible, reliable, and timely energy information. Data on production, receipts, inputs, movements, and stocks of crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas plant liquids, and related biofuels in the United States is required to adequately evaluate the petroleum industry.

Uses of data by International Agencies

• National Energy Board (NEB) uses respondent level data from all natural gas and petroleum survey’s to assist in its duties as the national energy and safety regulator of Canada.

Uses of data by Federal Agencies

• Defense Logistics Agency Energy (DLAE) uses data from EIA-810 Monthly Refinery Report to determine the appropriate standards for classifying small businesses.

• U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) uses data from EIA-810 Monthly Refinery Report. The agency uses the data to evaluate the structure of the petroleum refining industry in terms of total refining capacity, production of kerosene-type jet fuel production and other refined petroleum products purchased by the Defense Fuel Supply Energy to determine an appropriate size standard for a small business in the current petroleum refining industry.

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC) uses data from Forms EIA-810 Monthly Refinery Report, EIA-812 Monthly Product Pipeline Report, EIA-814 Monthly Imports Report, EIA-815 Monthly Bulk Terminal and Blender Report, EIA-819 Monthly Oxygenate Report, and EIA-820 Annual Refinery Report. FTC uses the data to determine whether actors engaged in activity that lessens market competition, intentionally manipulate product supply and transportation, or actively provide misleading information related to the wholesale price of crude oil or petroleum products.

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) uses data from EIA-810 Monthly Refinery Report, EIA-814 Monthly Imports Report, EIA-815 Monthly Bulk Terminal and Blender Report, and EIA-22M Monthly Biodiesel Production Survey. EPA uses this data in carrying out its regulatory and auditing duties of the petroleum industry.

• U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) uses a combination of Petroleum Supply Reporting System supply data during the winter months to inform ice breaking planning and vessel movements directed at ensuring a continuous flow of water-borne energy supplies to the populace of the American Northeast. USCG also uses the data to coordinate and asses fuel supplies for the First Coast Guard District.

• DOE Office of Fossil Energy uses all the PSRS data to support the management for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves, and Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve programs.

Uses of data by third parties

• Boston College uses data from EIA-810 and EIA-820 to assist in their studies of the impacts of environmental regulation and hydraulic fracking on the national oil refining industry.

• University of Utah uses data from EIA-22M and EIA-819 to study county level trends and economic relationships surrounding production facilities. The study includes analysis of corporate-government-community relations, and firm entry, exit, and adaptation.

• Yale uses refinery and petroleum sales data to study the effects of emissions policies on competitive conditions in wholesale gasoline markets.

• University of California, Irvine used data from EIA-810 to study the relationship between refinery outages and earnings and to determine whether outages are affected by economic motivations.

The PSRS data collection also meets the following data needs

1. The data are used to address significant energy industry issues.

EIA is routinely asked to evaluate the significance of a number of important issues related to the energy industry, in general, and the petroleum and biofuels supply industries, in particular. The data collected by the PSRS surveys are among those data that are required to address these issues.

2. Alternative data sources do not adequately satisfy the needs of EIA and its user communities.

Accurate, meaningful, and independent supply 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.

3. Timely data are essential to policy makers and industry planners who make decisions affecting all aspects of the natural gas industry. Consultants, investors, and financial actors rely on EIA data for accurate, current information on the energy sector, promoting sound decision-making and efficient markets.

PSRS data are published on EIA’s website in the Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR), This Week in Petroleum (TWIP), Petroleum Supply Monthly (PSM), Petroleum Supply Annual (PSA), Monthly Energy Review (MER), Short‑Term Energy Outlook (STEO), Annual Energy Outlook (AEO), Refinery Capacity Report, and numerous other EIA products.

Data collected weekly appear in the EIA publications WPSR and TWIP on the Internet. This summary of petroleum supply, demand, and inventories is the only weekly government source of consistent data regarding the current status of petroleum supply and disposition in the United States. The EIA instituted the WPSR in April 1979. This report was designed to provide prompt information during gasoline shortages, which resulted from oil supply disruptions related to the Iranian Islamic Revolution. Since then, the report has informed a wide audience of the overall status of petroleum in the U.S. on a very timely basis with consistent, well-understood, and verifiable data. The TWIP was instituted in 2002 as a means to provide data, graphs, and analyses about petroleum supply and prices on the Internet.

Disseminating the WPSR electronically in 2018 generated over 2.5 million page views. The TWIP generated over 1 million page views in 2018. Customers of the WPSR and the TWIP represent federal and state government energy staffs, managers and analysts with the petroleum, financial, and other industries, the news media, academia, and diverse groups in the general public. Data are used within the EIA as a source of current information required to develop meaningful supply and demand forecasts published monthly in the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). These data are also used in a similar manner to provide timely information for United States petroleum supply forecasts each month to the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Electronic dissemination improves the timeliness of the Petroleum Supply data and enables financial markets to operate efficiently. The WPSR and the TWIP are well-regarded by customers and have become necessary information and analytical tools that users heavily rely upon for timely data.

While more complete, detailed and accurate data are presented in the EIA’s publication, Petroleum Supply Monthly (PSM), the monthly surveys do not capture short-term changes in petroleum market conditions. Hence, there are well-defined needs for petroleum supply data to be collected both on a weekly and monthly basis in order to meet data requirements of governments, industry, and the general public. Altering either data collection effort in order to eliminate what appears to be duplication would result in disruption to the availability of necessary, valid, and timely petroleum supply information.

The data collected by PSRS are unique. While some data are available from other federal agencies and/or from private or industry sources, these data cannot adequately replace the high quality, independent, internally consistent, and timely data provided by these petroleum supply survey forms.

While much of the petroleum supply reporting system is oriented toward data collection related to crude oil and products derived from crude oil, the system also provides critically important information about biofuel supplies. As a result of the Clean Air Act of 1990, the Form EIA-819 was implemented in order to monitor the availability of oxygenates. Form EIA-819 is important for tracking production of biofuels including fuel ethanol and Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE) produced from ethanol feedstocks. This information is used by federal and other government agencies, energy analysts, and the public. The Form EIA-819 data are published electronically in the PSM. Biodiesel production and stocks data Form EIA-22M were integrated into the MPSRS, beginning with monthly data for May 2012 and revised data for January-December 2011, to permit more complete reporting of biofuel use and distillate fuel oil supplies.

Form EIA-820 is an annual survey used to collect current and projected capacity data, fuels consumed, natural gas used as input for production of hydrogen at refineries, and crude oil receipts by method of transportation. This information is used by EIA analysts, other federal and state government agencies, energy analysts, and a wide range of groups in the general public to analyze the refinery industry. Data are published on the Internet at the Refinery Capacity Report site.

EIA’s petroleum supply program provides Congress, other government agencies, businesses, trade associations, and private research and consulting organizations with data for analysis, projections, and monitoring purposes. EIA’s petroleum 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 other entities. Major media publications use or republish EIA reports and data such as: The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Reuters, Platts, Marketwatch, Forbes, The Economist, Fox Business, as well as energy trade press publications and numerous smaller scale and local publications.

A.3. Use of Technology

In an effort to reduce respondent burden and to provide for timelier processing of filings, EIA offers multiple modes of data collection. Automated reporting of the PSRS data is accepted, provided such reports are prepared and transmitted to EIA in the same format as the data collection form. Data are submitted by the Internet using secure file transfer, the PC Electronic Data Reporting Option (PEDRO), by email when submitting PDF forms only, and by facsimile.

EIA encourages its survey respondents to transmit data using the Secure File Transfer System of a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet through the Internet. The Secure File Transfer System encrypts (scrambles) the spreadsheet data into a code that is not readable to anyone without the key to decipher the code. The secure hypertext transfer protocol (HTTPS) is a communications protocol designed to transfer encrypted information between computers over the Internet.

As part of data collection enhancements, EIA is introducing Electronic Data Extraction System (EDES) on some of these surveys. This technology will allow electronic extraction of the information submitted via Excel spreadsheets. EDES will reduce manual data entry and keying errors; therefore, reducing program costs, reporting burden, and non-sampling errors.

Gatekeeper software is used to control the release of embargoed information products such as WPSR and TWIP every week so that all users have equal access to timely information.

A.4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

Comparable data for selected petroleum balance components are produced by other organizations, but EIA is the only source of complete volumetric balance data required to estimate demand for petroleum products. EIA measures demand as product supplied in this data collection program. In addition to petroleum balance data, EIA collects and reports data on refinery capacities, biofuel production capacities, and storage capacities. EIA evaluated data sources from other organizations that are similar to petroleum supply data collected on EIA surveys.

EIA evaluated the following data sources as being potentially duplicative of data collected in the PSRS.

U.S. Census Bureau (USCB) petroleum trade (export and import) data

Monthly trade (export and import) statistics are official trade statistics for the U.S. and are a principal federal economic indicator. EIA uses USCB export statistics in monthly and annual reports of petroleum and biofuels thereby avoiding the necessity of collecting monthly export data. EIA is able to estimate weekly U.S. export quantities using preliminary data provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) through a data sharing agreement established through the International Trade Data System (ITDS) process. EIA collects weekly petroleum and biofuel import data on Form EIA-804 Weekly Import Report and Form EIA-814 Monthly Import Report. EIA makes use of weekly data from CBP and monthly data from USCB and CBP for validation of EIA import survey data.

EIA is working with CBP to obtain import data reported to CBP that are comparable to current EIA survey data. EIA is currently able to access CBP data with near real time import entry data for crude oil and petroleum products, but CBP is currently unable to provide EIA with foreign trade zone (FTZ) admission data. FTZ admissions data are important because many U.S. oil refineries and petroleum and biofuel storage facilities have FTZ status. In addition, Form EIA-814 calls for importers of crude oil and unfinished oils (processed refinery feedstocks) to report the processing refinery, but this information is currently unavailable in data that EIA receives from CBP. EIA will continue working with USCB and CBP on trade data in order to make the best possible use of all available trade data and avoid unnecessary duplication of data collected on EIA surveys.

American Petroleum Institute Weekly Statistical Bulletin

The American Petroleum Institute (API) produces the Weekly Statistical Bulletin (WSB) that contains many of the same national and regional measures (inventories, refinery and blender operations, and imports) that appear in the Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR) produced by EIA. API produces petroleum data that are the most nearly comparable to EIA data in terms of timeliness, completeness, level of detail, and internal consistency. API presents the following information on their web site (https://www.api.org/products-and-services/statistics/api-weekly-statistical-bulletin) about the WSB and WPSR.

• API collects an exact copy of the data submitted to EIA. Respondents send data to API using the same weekly survey forms that EIA uses.

• Both API and EIA are on record stating that their reported weekly data cover roughly 90% of the industry. Since API and EIA need only estimate the remaining 10%, differences in their weekly estimates can be largely attributed to statistical noise.

The key takeaway from the first point is that API uses EIA survey reports as the primary data source for the WSB. EIA survey data are voluntarily submitted to API by some number of the same companies that report to EIA. EIA is unable to determine the exact number of survey reports received by API because EIA and API do not share any individual company data. API and EIA both use the same EIA survey reports as their primary weekly data sources, but there is no pre-release coordination about published data values. API and EIA each independently produce their own separate weekly petroleum reports.

The key takeaway from the second point is that both API and EIA collect weekly survey data that accounts for approximately 90 percent of the industry, and both API and EIA use monthly data from the EIA Petroleum Supply Monthly (based on monthly EIA survey data) as the benchmark for 100% of the industry. Furthermore, both API and EIA use data from the EIA Petroleum Supply Monthly and revised data from the EIA Petroleum Supply Annual as the historical data of record.

API produces a Monthly Statistical Report that is posted to the API web site.

https://www.api.org/~/media/Files/News/2018/18-July/Monthly_Statistical_Report_June_2018.pdf

Data in the API Monthly Statistical Report are based on WSB data converted to a monthly basis. EIA reports similar data in Appendix A of the WPSR.

https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/weekly/pdf/appendixa.pdf

There are no API data that are comparable to data collected by EIA monthly petroleum supply surveys.

While EIA weekly petroleum data could be viewed as duplicating API weekly data, the above discussion demonstrates that the current API data collection and WSB report methodology would require significant modification if either EIA weekly or monthly data were unavailable. It is worth noting that API charges a fee to users of their WSB. The fact that users of the WSB pay for the data when similar data are available on the EIA web site again points to the high value of petroleum supply data to people working in the oil industry, finance, and other sectors.

Other data evaluated by EIA

Other private sector organizations and government agencies produce estimates of selected components of U.S. and regional petroleum and biofuel balances, but none produce detailed, comprehensive, and internally consistent balance data that are comparable to data produced by EIA from petroleum supply surveys. The following are some known examples of data that are similar to some of the data collected and reported by EIA.

MasterCard Spending Pulse – The MasterCard Spending Pulse is a weekly report that includes estimates of gasoline demand. The report documentation states estimates of gasoline demand are based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with survey-based estimates for certain other payment forms, such as cash and check. EIA uses gasoline demand estimates from Mastercard Spending Pulse as a validation check on gasoline demand measured as product supplied, but gasoline demand measured as product supplied has the advantage of being consistent with other components of the petroleum and biofuel supply balance developed from EIA survey data and so product supplied is not replaceable by the MasterCard Spending Pulse estimates of gasoline demand.

Fuel consumption estimates from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics - The Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) of the U.S. Department of Transportation makes available annual estimates of transportation fuel consumption. These data are useful for many applications such as informing transportation policy decisions and as input to models of transportation fuel consumption, especially when consumption data are needed for different sectors, but BTS data not a replacement for demand measured as product supplied reported by EIA because the data available from BTS are only reported annually rather than weekly, monthly, and annually as are the product supplied data, and the BTS data are not necessarily consistent with petroleum and biofuel supply balances produced by EIA.

Data produced by private-sector companies using remote sensing and data from public records and other sources – Notable examples of data collected from remote sensing and public records include estimates of crude oil stock levels at Cushing, Oklahoma produced by a company called Genscape, and estimates of natural gas liquids production from Bentek, PointLogic, and Genscape. Data sources include aerial and satellite imagery, public information on natural gas flows through pipelines, and other public information. Remote sensing and public information are used to create estimates of crude oil inventory levels and production at natural gas processing plants. In all cases, EIA data play a role in the methodology used to estimate inventory levels or production at natural gas processing plants. At the very least, EIA data are used as a way for companies to demonstrate credibility of their estimates to current and potential clients. In other cases, EIA data provide historical data, such as regional composition of mixed natural gas liquids that are key input information to estimation methods used by private- sector companies. Many of the private-sector estimates of petroleum supply activities that are widely viewed as useful and perhaps even critical for efficient operation of petroleum markets would not exist in their current form without EIA data.

Public data for the renewable fuel standard from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – EPA provides public data through a “custom report” feature available on the agency website.

https://www.epa.gov/fuels-registration-reporting-and-compliance-help/custom-renewable-fuel-standard-report

EPA makes the following reports available.

• Renewable identification number (RIN) generation summary

• RIN generation by month

• RIN generation by producer

• Total available RINs to date

• Total production by fuel type

• Total Retirements by fuel (D code)

• Total separations by fuel (D code)

In addition to data relating to RIN activity, EPA reports include production data that are conceptually similar to biofuel production data collected on surveys by EIA. However, public EPA reports only provide production at the U.S. level while survey data allow EIA to analyze and publish regional as well as national data. In addition, survey data allow EIA to track blending activity at biofuel plants involving biofuel and petroleum fuels (e.g. addition of denaturant barrels to ethanol). Blending activity data are unavailable from EPA reports, but blending data are required in order for EIA to produce internally consistent and comprehensive regional and national volumetric balance data for biofuels and petroleum.

Refinery and biofuel capacity data – U.S. and world refinery capacity data are reported annually by the Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ) based on a survey. The U.S. refinery capacity data reported by OGJ are similar to EIA data collected on Form EIA-820 and reported on the EIA website.

https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/

U.S. production capacity of biofuel (fuel ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable diesel fuel) are reported by the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB). Both RFA and NBB are trade associations representing the fuel ethanol and bio/renewable diesel fuel industries respectively. Biofuel production capacity data reported by RFA and NBB are similar to data collected on Form EIA-819 (for ethanol and biodiesel) and reported on the EIA website.

While EIA, OGJ, RFA, and NBB all report similar data on refinery and biofuel plant capacities, we believe the mandatory data collected on EIA surveys are necessary in order to meet requirements for accurate and reliable capacity data to support informed policy decisions, especially relating to clean fuel and biofuel standards, market transparency, emergency preparedness, and public understanding of energy.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Agriculture Statistics Service – There seemingly are several points of data that could be considered duplicative collections. The data points relate to the collection of corn and sorghum feedstocks for the production of fuel ethanol and the collection of other feedstocks for the production of inedible products.

NASS surveys 3758 and 3759 (OMB 0535-0254) collect data from Dry Mill and Wet Mill producers. These producers take corn or sorghum as a feedstock and through a wet or dry process, convert the corn or sorghum into alcohols that can be used for beverages, industry, or fuel. NASS uses these surveys to balance outputs from the agricultural products, corn or sorghum (or “other” which sometimes includes wheat). EIA-819 also collects corn and sorghum feedstocks used in the production of fuel alcohol. The following are important distinctions between the NASS data and EIA data.

• NASS collects company level data whereas EIA collects facility level data. NASS receives approximately 130 reports each month which represent about 90 percent of total capacity. Company level reporting causes under-coverage of the market. EIA collects facility level information which results in the receipt of 320 reports. The company level data is used to publish a national statistic whereas the facility level data is used to publish regional statistics.

• The reporting units for both surveys are different. The NASS surveys collect data in 1000 bushels and EIA-819 collects data in pounds. Agricultural commodities have different conversions from pounds to bushels and this will be a persistent source of reporting error.

• The collection methodology is different between the two surveys. Data is due to EIA no later than 20 days after the reporting period. Data is due to NASS about a week before the end of the month after the reporting period. For example; March data is due to EIA no later than April 20^th whereas data is due to NASS between the 22^nd and 26^th of April. NASS publishes March data on the 1^st of May whereas EIA publishes March data around the end of May.

• Response rates are different. NASS response rates are at least 90% of total production capacity. EIA’s response rates are usually 100%. This is in large part due to EIA’s mandatory data collection ability (15 U.S.C. §772b) and ability to impose civil monetary penalties for non-response or false reporting (10 C.F.R. 207.7).

The other seemingly similar data collection is NASS Form M311N (OMB 0535-0254) that is used to collect data on the production of animal and vegetable fats and oils and their separation into edible and inedible uses. Besides the fact that Form M311N also collects company level data and has the same reporting methodology noted previously, EIA-819 collects information on almost the exact same items. For example; both NASS and EIA collect information on Tallow. NASS collects data on the production of Tallow, its separation into different classes of Tallow, and its separation into edible and inedible uses. The inedible use of Tallow includes feedstocks for biofuel production. However, biofuel production is not the only inedible use for Tallow. Inedible uses for Tallow include the production of soap, animal feeds, lubrication, and even nitroglycerin. This example applies to the rest of the EIA-819 feedstocks in Section 9. The production of biofuels is not the only inedible use of such feedstocks and does not represent a duplication of efforts by NASS and EIA.

A.5. Provisions for Reducing Burden on Small Businesses

Minimizing burden to small businesses is a primary concern to EIA. Alternative modes of data collection seek to reduce respondent burden. For example, some respondents provide data which can be uploaded, and thus reducing the need for data entry. EIA uses the cut-off sampling method to minimize reporting burden on the weekly surveys. The use of PEDRO or the Internet by respondents reduces reporting burden by eliminating paperwork and reducing the need for follow-up calls and resubmissions of the forms. EIA staff members are available during normal business hours to provide assistance by telephone.

The PSRS collects the minimum information necessary to fulfill EIA's responsibility to provide meaningful, timely, objective, and accurate petroleum supply data.

A.6. Consequences of Less-Frequent Reporting

EIA is recognized as the major collector of comprehensive, internally consistent, and reliable United States energy supply and demand data. All sectors of the economy rely on EIA for energy statistics and consider its publications to be timely unbiased indicators of current energy conditions and incipient trends. Less frequent reporting would degrade EIA’s capability to meet its mandate of providing timely and reliable energy information. Data are required at the weekly, monthly, and annual levels in order to satisfy EIA’s programmatic needs as described in Section A.2 above.

EIA began collecting weekly data since 1979 using Forms EIA-800 through EIA-804. Data on Form EIA-805 have been collected since 2004 and on Form EIA-809 since 2010. The data are used to generate the Weekly Petroleum Status Report and This Week in Petroleum. The reports generated from the weekly data are very much in demand by a wide audience and routinely relied upon by financial traders and analysts to assess current conditions in petroleum markets. Forms EIA-810 through EIA-819 are collected on a monthly basis and are published in the Petroleum Supply Monthly, Monthly Energy Review, and the Petroleum Supply Annual. Monthly data are essential for assessment of seasonal changes in petroleum supplies and markets and to capture market adjustments to changes in prices and levels of economic activity. The monthly data are also required to fulfill the requirements of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreement and meet the analytic requirements of EIA and other data users. Annual data collected on Form EIA-820 are adequate for analysis and assessment of detailed refinery capacities, fuels and hydrogen feedstocks consumed, and crude oil receipts by method of transportation.

A.7. Compliance with 5 CFR 1320.5

The justification requiring respondents to report information more frequently than every quarter is described above. There are no other special circumstances for these collections.

A.8. Summary of Consultations Outside of the Agency

Comments received in response to the 60 Day Federal Register Notice, 83 Fed. Reg. 247 (December 27, 2018) – The PSRS Program Office (PO) received approximately 26 separate comments regarding the posted 60 Day FRN. Each commenter raised multiple issues in their comments. The most frequent issue raised in the comments related to EIA’s plan to combine Forms EIA-819 and EIA-22. These comments were generally supportive of the combined new Form EIA-819. However, a few commenters requested that EIA provide more information on to complete the combined form. One commenter requested that EIA continue updating the biofuels feedstock categories to, “capture newly approved Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) pathways for renewable fuels.” The full record of comments was submitted to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) on June 19^th, 2019 under the file name EIA-Responses-June-2019-AM.pdf.

Cognitive research of the new Form EIA-806 Weekly Natural Gas Liquids Report and changes to Form EIA-816 Monthly Natural Gas Plant Liquids Report – Findings of this study were based on 14 interviews conducted in January and February 2018 with companies that operate natural gas processing plants and fractionators. The following were some key findings of this research.

• Operators of natural gas processing plants are able to report weekly production of total natural gas liquids, but not the component products (ethane, propane, butanes, natural gasoline, and plant condensate. Weekly production of total natural gas liquids will be based on operational records rather than accounting data that are commonly used for reporting monthly data on Form EIA-816. As a result of this research, EIA modified our Form EIA-806 to only require weekly reporting of total natural gas liquids production and stocks rather than production and stocks by component product except in cases where plant operators hold stocks that are segregated by product.

• The time required to complete Form EIA-816 will be reduced from the current estimate of 0.95 hours to 0.75 hours despite addition of several new data items to the monthly report.

Cognitive research on changes for Form EIA-819 Monthly Oxygenate Report – Findings of this research were based on 9 interviews conducted in January and February 2018. The following were some key findings.

• The current estimated response burden for completing Form EIA-819 of 1.6 hours per month is overstated. The actual time required to complete the report is likely closer to 1.25 hours per month.

• One purpose of this research was to assess whether significant quantities of industrial ethanol might be reported on Form EIA-819 as production of fuel ethanol thereby overstating available fuel ethanol supplies in U.S. and regional data reported by EIA. For the most part, the research found that terms used on Form EIA-819 to describe fuel ethanol were properly understood by survey respondents, and data collected on Form EIA-819 accurately reflected available supplies of fuel ethanol while excluding industrial and other alcohol.

Cognitive research to combine Form EIA-819 Monthly Oxygenate Report with Form EIA-22M Monthly Biodiesel Production Survey to create one survey of biofuels and fuel oxygenates – Findings of this research were based on 14 interviews with companies reporting on Form EIA-819 and 11 interviews with companies reporting on Form EIA-22M. The following were some key findings.

• Respondents required some prompting in order to identify the parts of the combined Form EIA-819 and Form EIA-22M that applied to their operations. The combined form is set up with separate sections to be completed by producers of fuel ethanol, biodiesel, renewable fuels, and fuel oxygenates, and so it is not surprising that respondents required some help in navigating the new survey form. It is worth noting that the survey form shown to respondents during interviews was a printed copy of the form drafted in Excel. In actual practice, the plan is to use a web portal for collecting survey responses on the combined survey form. Such a portal is currently used by respondents to the current Form EIA-22M, but not by respondents to the current Form EIA-819. The web portal planned for the combined Form EIA-22M and Form EIA-819 will guide respondents through the form so they only see the parts that apply to their operation. Even with limitations of the printed form used for the interviews, most respondents were able to quickly identify sections of the survey that were applicable to their operation.

• The combined Form EIA-819 uses a format that is significantly different from the format of either the existing Form EIA-819 or Form EIA-22M, and the new form introduces some new concepts and terms that are needed in order to create volumetric balances for biofuels and selected petroleum products that are commonly blended with biofuels. The new format, concepts, and terms are intended to improve integration of biofuel supply reporting with petroleum supply reporting in order to produce data that are more complete and internally consistent. Despite significant differences between the existing and combined biofuel surveys, most respondents were able to relate data items on the combined survey form back to information contained in their operational and accounting records with some prompting from interviewers.

Cognitive research to review the processes respondents follow to complete Form EIA-804 Weekly Imports Report and monthly on Form EIA-814 Monthly Imports Report- Findings of this research were based on 15 interviews with companies reporting on both Forms EIA-814 and EIA 814. Below describes some key findings.

• Most respondents do not personally complete both EIA and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) survey forms. They either use third party customs brokers or refer to another department in their company to complete their CBP forms. Information reported on CBP forms is used to complete or check the information reported on the monthly Form EIA-814. However, the information from the CBP reports is not available for completing the weekly Form EIA-804. There is no uniform information source that participants use to complete Forms EIA-804 and EIA-814. Most of the participants said they report import transactions on Form EIA-804 even if they have not filed the required CBP forms. Cut-off times for reporting weekly import transactions on Form EIA-804 varied by participant, however, each participant is consistent in using the same cut-off date and time to report import transactions each week.

• The burden estimates provided by participants are less than the current burden per response estimates for Forms EIA-804 and EIA-814. The current burden per response to complete Form EIA-804 is 1.75 hours. Based on the participants’ estimates, the average estimated burden to complete and submit Form EIA-804 is 0.81 hours or 48 minutes. The current burden per response to complete Form EIA-814 is 2.55 hours. Based on the participants’ estimates, the average estimated burden per response to complete and submit Form EIA-814 is 1.35 hours.

Meetings with American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) Petrochemical Statistics Committee – EIA staff met with representatives of AFPM member companies who attended annual meetings of the AFPM Petrochemical Statistics Committee in Washington DC in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The main topic of discussion was a proposal by EIA to begin collecting data on stocks of natural gas liquids (NGL) held at petrochemical plants.

Petrochemical plants are end-users of NGL barrels as feedstocks for production of olefins and chemical products. In most cases, end-user storage (e.g. propane stored by a homeowner to use for heating and cooking) is out of scope for reporting on EIA surveys. However, petrochemical plant operators are able to operate their storage in ways that affect U.S. and regional NGL supply data reported on the EIA website. For example, operators of petrochemical plants may have capability to move barrels from their storage to an export terminal where the barrels will be reported to EIA as stocks and/or exports. When this happens currently (i.e. without reporting by petrochemical plant operators) EIA data show barrels added to stocks and/or exported with no corresponding source of supply. Similar capabilities to operate NGL storage in ways that affect national and regional supply data are largely or entirely absent among other end users of NGL.

Meetings with GPA Midstream on matters relating to crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids production – EIA staff meet on a regular schedule (usually two times each year) with a liaison representative from the GPA Midstream industry association. Topics of discussion include survey reporting and proposed changes to surveys, statistical methodology, and analysis of data of mutual interest to EIA and GPA Midstream.

Workshop on broadening and modifying collection of petroleum and biofuel supply statistics – EIA hosted a workshop in February 2015 where representatives from petroleum and biofuel companies, market analysts, and representatives of trade associations were invited to comment and provide advice to EIA on proposed changes to survey forms and data presentation on the EIA website. The February 2015 workshop provided guidance for EIA survey changes in 2016, but some of the input received by EIA remained relevant and useful for development of survey change proposals for 2019. Specific topic areas for the workshop included

• regional subdivisions for data reporting on surveys and data presentation on the EIA website

• petroleum transportation data requirements and data sources

• crude oil data collection

• reporting categories for petroleum products and biofuels

• reporting categories for natural gas liquids and refinery olefins

• measurement and presentation of uncertainty in petroleum supply data

• other topics including proposed changes to units of measure (changing from thousand barrels to barrels and gallons in some cases), collecting additional product detail on naphtha, and separate accounting of refinery still gas used as fuel and petrochemical feedstock

A.9. Payments or Gifts to Respondents

There are no plans to pay respondents to respond to these surveys.

A.10. Provisions for Protection of Information

The data collected in PSRS surveys are used by EIA for statistical purposes, however the information may be made available, upon request, to other federal agencies authorized by law to receive such information for any non-statistical purposes such as administrative, regulatory, law enforcement, or adjudicatory purposes. All Petroleum Supply Reporting System survey forms, with the exception of Form EIA-814 Monthly Imports Report, utilize similar confidentiality statements.

PROVISIONS REGARDING CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION

“The information reported on Forms EIA-800, 802, 803, 804, 805, 809, 810, 812, 813, 815, 816, 817, 819, and 820 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(b), the Department of Energy (DOE) 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 DOE component; 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. 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.”

Special provisions for Forms EIA-810, 819 and 820 have special provisions because production and distillation capacity are data elements that are not protected:

• Form EIA-810: The data collected on Form EIA-810, “Monthly Refinery Report,” is used to report aggregate statistics on and conduct analyses of the operation of U.S. petroleum refineries. Information on operable atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity reported on Form EIA-810 is not considered confidential and may be publicly released in identifiable form.

• Form EIA-819: Information on production capacities for ethanol, biodiesel, and renewable fuels and intermediate products reported in Parts 3, 5, and 7 on Form EIA-819, “Monthly Biofuel and Oxygenate Report,” are considered public information and may be released in identifiable form by company and site. All other information reported on this form 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. Disclosure limitation procedures are applied to statistical data published from biodiesel producers, except total B100 production, to ensure that the risk of disclosure of identifiable information is very small.

• Form EIA-820: Information on operable atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity, downstream charge capacity, and production capacity reported on Form EIA-820 are not considered 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 made available, upon request, to other federal agencies authorized by law to receive such information for any non-statistical purposes such as administrative, regulatory, law enforcement, or adjudicatory purposes.”

Data collected on EIA-814 are not protected and publically available in identifiable form. The following statement is used for this form:

Information reported on Form EIA-814 will be considered public information and may be publicly released in company or individually identifiable form, and will not be protected from disclosure in identifiable form.

A.11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

There are no questions of a sensitive nature asked on the surveys in the Petroleum Supply Reporting System.

A.12. Estimate of Respondent Burden Hours and Cost

The overall annual burden for this package is estimated to be $16,365,923.60. Based on the reporting burden, the cost to the respondents is estimated to be: 208,430 hours x $78.52 per hour. An average cost per hour of $78.52 is used because that is the average salary plus benefits for an equivalent EIA employee in 2018. EIA estimates that there are no additional costs to respondents associated with the surveys in the Petroleum Supply Reporting System other than the costs associated with the burden hours. The changes to the forms in this ICR will not result in any changes to the reporting requirements of the existing collection of information. Respondents do not need to develop, acquire, or install any new hardware, software, or programs to comply with these reporting requirements.

A.13. Annual Cost to the Federal Government

The annual cost estimate for 15 surveys in the Petroleum Supply Reporting System is $5,539,120, which includes personnel, development/maintenance, collection, processing, analysis, publication, and contractor costs. The cost for 11 full-time federal employees (FTE) working on this survey system is $2,066,018. This cost includes overhead calculated at 15 percent of the cost for federal staff to cover indirect costs such as space, supplies, etc. The total cost for contractor staff which, includes labor and overhead is $3,473,101.52. The total cost for contractor staff includes support on data collection and processing of all surveys in this PSRS ICR.

This annual cost to the government represents a 9% reduction in costs despite an increase in the average cost per labor hour from $72.02 to $78.52. The reduction in government costs are related to the elimination of labor hours related to activities such as survey frame development and the transformation/ modernization costs associated with updating EIA data collection practices. Transformation/ modernization activities such as migrating databases, ensuring data integrity, and maintaining seamless data collection cycles during technological transitions were completed in 2017 and those activities did not need to be funded in subsequent years.

Table A2. Annual Cost to the Federal Government
Federal*	$2,066,018.24
Contractor	$3,473,101.52
Annual cost to the Federal Government	$5,539,119.76

*Calculation based on 2080 hours x 11 FTE’s x $78.52 = $1,796,537.6 + 15% Federal overhead = $2,066,018.24

A.14. Changes in Burden

A.15. Reasons for Changes in Burden

Table A4. ICR Summary of Burden
	Requested	Program Change Due to Agency Discretion	Change Due to Adjustment in Agency Estimate	Previously Approved
Annual Number of Responses	102,431	-1,620	2,218	101,833
Annual Time Burden (Hr)	207,080	-4,860	1,048	210,892

The net reduction of 3,813 hours in annual burden from 2016 is primarily based on EIA’s Survey Development Team’s cognitive research, which revised the burden estimates on Forms EIA-819 and 22M from the values used since 2009.

In June 2018, EIA’s Survey Development Team conducted cognitive testing to assess respondents’ ability to report information on the form that merges the current Form EIA-819 and Form EIA-22M surveys. During the cognitive testing, participants were asked how much time was spent gathering the information necessary to complete the report and how much time it takes participants to report the data on the existing forms. The current burden per response on Form EIA-819 is 1.6 hours, and participants interviewed reported an average response burden of 0.42 hours (25 minutes). This includes approximately 16 minutes to gather the information and 9 minutes to report the data. The current burden per response on Form EIA-22M is 3.0 hours, and participants interviewed reported an average response burden of 1.03 hours (62 minutes). This includes approximately 44 minutes to gather the information and 18 minutes to report the data

Participants were also asked during cognitive interviews how long it would take them to report on a combined Form EIA-819 and 22M. Current Form EIA-819 respondents stated that the additional data requirements for the combined Form EIA-819 increases the total reporting burden from 25 minutes to approximately 40 minutes. Current EIA-22M respondents stated during the same cognitive testing that reporting on a combined Form EIA-819 increases their total reporting burden from 62 minutes to approximately 70 minutes. EIA used a weighted average to estimate the new burden per response

= = ≈ 52 minutes,

where

= the weighted average burden per response of ethanol and biodiesel producers reporting on Form EIA-819;

= the number of ethanol producers (from Table A2) reporting on Form EIA-819;

= the number of biodiesel producers (from Table A2) reporting on Form EIA-819;

= burden per response for ethanol producers on Form EIA-819 (40 minutes);

= burden per response for biodiesel producers on Form EIA-819 (70 minutes).

The weighted average burden per response for the combined Form EIA-819 is approximately 52 minutes which was rounded to 55 minutes. 27% of the biodiesel producers in the cognitive interviews reported that they take more than 1.5 hours to complete Form EIA-22M. To account for those survey respondents that need more time to submit their data, and adjusting for the fact that participants in the interviews were from a non-probabilistic sample of the frame file, EIA added additional time of approximately 20 minutes to the new estimate of 55 minutes, thereby making the burden per response equal to 1.25 hours for Form EIA-819.

Another contributor to the overall reduction in burden hours is the revised burden estimate for Form EIA-816 from 0.95 hours to 0.75 hours. In early 2018, EIA’s Survey Development Team conducted cognitive research to assess respondents’ ability to report. On a simple average, the participants responded that they needed 20 minutes to file and complete the survey, with the maximum time required by the participants interviewed being 30 minutes. This is significantly less than the current burden of 57 minutes. Based on those findings, EIA’s new average burden per response is 45 minutes.

EIA is not changing the estimate of average burden per response for any other surveys. The other changes do not cause an increase in burden, once a process for gathering and reporting the information is established and streamlined. Additionally, most of the changes do not apply to the entire population that is reporting on the survey, but only a subset of respondents. There are also changes that reduce the amount of information that is collected, reducing the estimated burden, and offsetting changes that expand the data collected.

A.16. Collection, Tabulation, and Publication Plans

The data collected on the forms in the Petroleum Supply Reporting System will be aggregated in EIA reports and made available on the EIA website. The time schedules are shown in the tables below.

Table A5. Annual Survey Collection, Tabulation, and Publication Plans

Annual Survey
Form	EIA-820
Due Date	February 15 of the designated report year
Period	Annual
Primary Publication	Annual Refinery Capacity Report https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/
On EIA website	June

Table A6. Monthly Survey Collection, Tabulation, and Publication Plans

Monthly Surveys
Forms	EIA-810, EIA-812, EIA-813, EIA-814, EIA-815, EIA-816, EIA-817, EIA-819
Due Date	20th calendar day following the end of the report period month
Period	Monthly
Primary Publications	Petroleum Supply Monthly https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/monthly/ Monthly Biodiesel Production Report https://www.eia.gov/biofuels/biodiesel/production/ Monthly Energy Review https://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/monthly/ Petroleum Supply Annual https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/annual/volume1/
On EIA website	Last business day of the month 2 months after the report period Ex: For the September 2018 report period, data are due before October 20th and will be posted on EIA’s website on November 30th

Table 7. Weekly Survey Collection, Tabulation, and Publication Plans

Weekly Surveys
Forms	EIA-800, EIA-802, EIA-803, EIA-804, EIA-805, EIA-809
Due Date	5PM Eastern Time (ET) on the Monday following report period.
Period	The weekly report period begins at 7:01 a.m. ET on Friday and ends at 7:00 a.m. ET the following Friday
Primary Publications	Weekly Petroleum Status Report https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/supply/weekly/ This Week in Petroleum https://www.eia.gov/petroleum/weekly/
On EIA website	Every Wednesday for the report period ending the previous Friday. Tables are released electronically in CSV and XLS formats at 10:30 a.m. using Gatekeeper software. All other PDF and HTML files are released at 1:00 p.m.

A.17. OMB Number and Expiration Date

The OMB number 1905-0165 and expiration date will be displayed on the data collection forms and instructions.

A.18. Certification Statement

There are no exceptions to the certification statement identified in Item 19, "Certification for Paperwork Reduction Act Submissions," of OMB Form 83-I. This information collection request complies with 5 C.F.R. §1320.9.