Comments were due Friday (Jan. 4) on the Energy Information Administration’s emergency clearance request to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that would allow EIA to require weekly submissions of storage data so it can publish a storage survey report to replace the one currently issued by the American Gas Association (AGA).

OMB clearance is necessary under the Paperwork Reduction Act to ensure against an undue or unnecessary reporting burden. EIA is requesting expedited treatment so that it can have an information collection system up and running when AGA discontinues its weekly storage survey at the end of April. EIA has targeted 9 a.m. (EST) May 9 for its first survey report for gas in storage in the week ending May 3. At that time the agency will also release estimates of several prior weeks so that data users may compare several weeks of AGA data with EIA data.

“A delay in the approval and implementation of the survey would result in a break or disruption in this data series which is relied upon by policymakers, commodity market analysts and industry experts,” EIA said in requesting expedited treatment. The Energy Department already has prevailed on AGA to continue its survey past its originally intended termination this week.

The association last fall announced it did not wish to continue the survey — published since 1994 — which has become a critical market measurement, with millions of dollars in physical and futures trades hinging on the results. Liability became an issue on several occasions last year when AGA had to issue revised results.

The Energy Department agency said it had interviewed several participants in the current AGA survey and they had “indicated an interest in continuing the survey in a format similar to the current AGA survey.” In addition, industry representatives expressed a strong need for the weekly storage information “to support the competitive functioning of the natural gas market.” EIA proposes to release the results on Thursdays and the New York Mercantile Exchange reportedly pushed for an early morning time. Currently AGA releases the results on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. EST.

EIA pointed out it will be continuing much the same format currently used by the AGA survey, to retrieve information from 50 companies on their total working gas in storage for the week and the previous week in the Producing Region, the Consuming Region East and the Consuming Region West. The form (EIA-912) also will require the companies to state their total gas in storage in each region. The data as of Friday at 9 a.m. will be required to be submitted by the following Monday at 5 p.m. EST. EIA plans to announce the results at 9 a.m.on the following Thursday. The OMB request is available at https://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/natural_gas/survey_forms/eia912package.pdf.

While participation in the AGA survey was voluntary, EIA draws its authority to require the cooperation of storage operators from the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (FEA), which authorized the Energy Department to collect data in order to assess the adequacy of energy resources. EIA currently collects more detailed storage information on a monthly basis on form EIA-191. The results of this survey are published 60 days after the close of the report month “and are not sufficient to meet the weekly information requirements.”

EIA said it will test the form on several potential respondent companies and will incorporate changes if necessary. The agency notes that the FEA requires EIA to provide company-specific data to the Department of Justice or to any other federal agency, when requested for official use, “which may include the enforcement of federal law.” Information also may be made available, upon request, to other parts of DOE, a congressional committee or the General Accounting Office. Further, “the information requested on Form EIA-912 will be kept confidential and not disclosed to the public to the extent that it satisfies the criteria for exemption in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), DOE regulations implementing FOIA and the Trade Secrets Act. Companies seeking an exemption from FOIA should submit the reasons why the information would be likely to cause the respondent substantial competitive harm if released to the public.”

EIA has asked the one-page form be approved by Jan. 14. Comments were due in to Bryon Allen, OMB desk officer for DOE, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Phone: 202-395-7318; fax: 202-395-7285 or e-mail to BAllen@omb.eop.gov. A copy also was to be provided to Herbert Miller at EIA: phone: 202-287-1711, Fax: 202-287-1705 or e-mail: herbert.miller@eia.doe.gov.

The energy agency plans to survey 50 companies and calculates the time involved will be 2,600 hours (50 respondents times 52 reports times 1 hour per response). It will make copies of the form available in pdf and xls formats, which can be submitted by fax or e-mail.

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