In recognition of the growing significance of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the nation’s fuel supply mix, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) last Tuesday unveiled a proposed plan to begin surveying the storage data of approximately 100 active LNG storage facilities in the U.S. on a monthly and annual basis. The agency is seeking comments from potential survey respondents and other interested parties by Nov. 17.

It may eventually consider the possibility of a weekly LNG inventory survey “after the monthly survey is operating in a stable manner and if evidence indicates that greater timeliness of data would enhance understanding of the overall natural gas supply situation,” the Department of Energy (DOE) agency said in a Sept. 16 Federal Register notice of its proposal.

For now, the EIA proposes to create Form EIA-913, “Monthly and Annual Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Storage Report,” to collect data on the inventory levels of LNG and operational capacities of active LNG storage facilities. The main survey respondents would be all operators of facilities that store LNG for baseload, seasonal and peak demand delivery in the United States, according to the agency.

Other potential survey respondents would be local distribution companies, natural gas pipeline companies, liquefaction facilities, LNG wholesalers (excluding retailers who sell LNG exclusively for ultimate vehicular fuel use), and marine terminals providing peaking storage services. The survey will not include LNG inventories of industrial, residential, commercial or power generation operations for ultimate consumption, the EIA noted.

Survey respondents would be expected to complete and submit the EIA-913 Annual Schedule at the start of the survey and subsequently once a year and whenever a new facility begins operation or a change in operator or storage capacity occurs, the agency said. The annual survey would include specific information about a facility — storage capacity, liquefaction capacity, vaporization capacity, facility name and location.

A completed EIA-913 Monthly Schedule would be due 20 days after the end of the report month; it would provide monthly inventory estimates and net withdrawals (withdrawals minus additions) for the entire United States, as well as on a regional basis (similar to the regions used in the existing EIA natural gas storage report).

The proposed survey “was necessitated by the increasing role of LNG storage as a source of natural gas supply, especially during periods of peak demand, and the subsequent need to monitor the activity for a better understanding of the U.S. natural gas supply and demand balance,” the EIA noted. “Much like the existing underground natural gas storage survey, the new LNG survey is expected to be widely used by industry analysts and federal and state agencies to monitor gas markets.”

Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham announced at the natural gas summit in late June that the agency was working on plans to begin surveying LNG inventories.

The EIA said it plans to treat company-specific information collected on Form EIA-913 as confidential. “However, upon request for official uses the information may be shared with another component of the Department of Energy, any committee of Congress, the General Accounting Office, and other federal agencies authorized by law to receive such information,” as well as ordered by courts.

The EIA recommends that comments on the proposed survey be sent by e-mail to Poonum.Agrawal@eia.doe.gov.

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