PSRS_SS_Part_A_052213

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Petroleum Supply Reporting System

OMB: 1905-0165

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U.S. Energy Information Administration

Office of Energy Statistics

Office of Petroleum and Biofuels Statistics





Supporting Statement for Survey Clearance



Petroleum Supply Reporting System

OMB No. 1905-0165



Background and Proposal

Part A





Original Date: November 2012











INTRODUCTION

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is required to publish, and otherwise make available independent, high-quality statistical data to federal government agencies, state and local governments, the petroleum industry, academic researchers, and the general public.

To meet this obligation, EIA’s Office of Petroleum and Biofuels Statistics (PBS) maintains 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 weekly surveys that make up the Weekly Petroleum Supply Reporting System (WPSRS) and monthly/annual surveys that make up the Monthly Petroleum Supply Reporting System (MPSRS). The Form EIA-22M, “Monthly Biodiesel Production Survey,” (formerly OMB 1905-0207) is now included in the PSRS forms package. The following weekly, monthly, and annual surveys make up the PSRS:

      • Form EIA-22M, “Monthly Biodiesel Production Survey”

      • Form EIA-800, “Weekly Refinery and Fractionator Report”

      • Form EIA-801, “Weekly Bulk Terminal 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 and Blender 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 and Blender Report”

      • Form EIA-816, “Monthly Natural Gas Plant Liquids Report”

      • Form EIA-817, “Monthly Tanker and Barge Movement Report”

      • Form EIA-819, “Monthly Oxygenate Report”

      • Form EIA-820, “Annual Refinery Report”

EIA proposes extension of the PSRS surveys for three years with changes. Upon approval, EIA will continue to use the existing survey forms to collect data during the remainder of 2012. More specifically, this means using the present version of the forms during the January 2013 calendar month to collect monthly data for the December 2012 report month. EIA will begin collecting monthly data for 2013 using the revised forms in February, 2013. Annual refinery capacity data for January 1, 2013 will be collected using the existing version of Form EIA-820. The existing Form EIA-820 expires January 31, 2013. The new Form EIA-805 will be transitioned to over a 4-12 week period as the Form EIA-801 is removed. Respondents will not be asked to submit the same information on multiple forms during the transition period.

Proposed changes are to align weekly and monthly reporting of bulk terminal data by completing the transition to weekly reporting of bulk terminal data by site (Form EIA-801 Weekly Bulk Terminal Report and Form EIA-805 Weekly Bulk Terminal and Blender Report), discontinue collection of maximum sustainable fuel ethanol production capacity (Form EIA-819 Monthly Oxygenate Report), and change certain data protection policies in order to improve the ability of EIA to meet requirements of data users (Form EIA-22M Monthly Biodiesel Production Survey, Form EIA-810 Monthly Refinery Report, Form EIA-819 Monthly Oxygenate Report).

Background of the Petroleum Supply Reporting System

Weekly petroleum and biofuels supply surveys (Forms EIA-800, 802, 803, 804, 805, and 809) are used to gather data on petroleum refinery operations, blending, biofuels production, inventory levels, and imports of crude oil, petroleum products, and biofuels from samples of operating companies, with the sampling frame and sampled companies being different for the various surveys. This clearance includes a proposal to discontinue collecting data using the existing Form EIA-801. Data currently collected on Form EIA-801 will be collected using an expanded version of Form EIA-805. Data from weekly surveys appear in EIA reports, including the following:

Monthly petroleum and biofuels supply surveys (Forms EIA-810, 812, 813, 814, 815, 816, 817, 819, and 22M) are used to gather data on petroleum refinery operations, blending, biofuels production, natural gas plant liquids production, inventory levels, imports, inter-regional movements, and storage capacity for crude oil, petroleum products, and biofuels. Crude oil production data and petroleum and biofuels export data from the U.S. Census Bureau are integrated with data from EIA petroleum supply surveys to create a comprehensive statistical view of U.S. petroleum supplies that is unavailable from any other source.

Monthly petroleum and biofuels supply surveys provide essential support to weekly surveys by providing a complete set of petroleum and biofuels supply data from all in-scope companies. The companies required to submit each of the monthly surveys comprise the sampling frame from which samples are drawn for the corresponding weekly surveys. In addition, monthly surveys provide data elements that are not collected on weekly reports such as production of natural gas plant liquids and refinery processing gain. Data from monthly petroleum and biofuels supply surveys appear in EIA reports, including the following:

In addition, monthly survey data provide input for the EIA State Energy Data System and provide U.S. data submitted to the International Energy Agency.

Section 1508 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005) (42 U.S.C. § 7135(m)) requires EIA to conduct a survey which collects the quantity of renewable fuels produced, blended, imported, and demanded as well as market prices on a monthly basis. Form EIA-22M collects production and certain blending data in order to fulfill a portion of this mandate. Form EIA-22M in combination with other PSRS surveys provides data to comply with the supply and demand data requirements of EPACT 2005 for renewable fuels.

Form EIA-820, “Annual Refinery Report,” provides plant-level data on refinery capacities, as well as national and regional data on fuels consumed by refineries, natural gas consumed as hydrogen feedstock, and crude oil receipts, by method of transportation for operating and idle petroleum refineries (including new refineries under construction), and refineries shut down during the previous year. The information collected appears in the Refinery Capacity Report, http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/, Annual Energy Review, http://www.eia.gov/totalenergy/data/annual/index.cfm, and other reports available electronically from the EIA web site at http://www.eia.gov.

PROPOSED CHANGES TO PETROLEUM SUPPLY DATA COLLECTION

Complete the Transition to Weekly Bulk Terminal Reporting by Site

EIA proposes to complete the WPSRS transition to bulk terminal reporting by site on an expanded version of Form EIA-805, “Weekly Bulk Terminal and Blender Report,” and to discontinue reporting on Form EIA-801, “Weekly Bulk Terminal Report. This proposal is based on reassessment of the sampling frames and burden estimates and availability of new technology to process survey responses. These proposed changes will make weekly and monthly bulk terminal reporting consistent and permit EIA to improve quality and utility of bulk terminal inventory and blending data. EIA has addressed the possibility of a respondent for Form EIA-801 and Form EIA-805 using an old and new form and plans to institute a 4-12 week transition process where EIA may provide additional information, resources, and support to respondents as they migrate to the new Form EIA-805. Respondents will not be asked to complete the same information on multiple forms, as such there should be no duplication of collections.

Bulk terminal operators currently report all of their monthly inventory and blending and other activity on Form EIA-815, “Monthly Bulk Terminal and Blender Report.” Prior to reports for January 2009, bulk terminal operators reported inventory by state on Form EIA-811, “Monthly Bulk Terminal Report,” and they reported blending activity by site on Form EIA-815. Weekly reporting followed a similar pattern, with bulk terminal inventories reported by Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts (PADDs) on Form EIA-801 and blending activity reported by site on Form EIA-805. Monthly reporting changed starting with reports for January 2009 when bulk terminal operators started reporting all of their operations (including blending, inventory, and certain other activities) by site on an expanded version of Form EIA-815. There was a transition period during 2009 when bulk terminal operators reported inventory on both Forms EIA-811 and EIA-815 to allow EIA to assess reporting continuity between the two surveys. Reporting on Form EIA-811 was discontinued after December 2009 and all bulk terminal activity is now collected on Form EIA-815.

The similar transition to site level reporting on a weekly basis (i.e. collecting all bulk terminal activity, including blending operations and inventory, on a single survey) was originally requested to take place in the same time frame as the monthly change described above. Completing the weekly transition to have all terminal data reported by site involved expansion of Form EIA-805 in terms of sample size and the product line items collected on the survey. In a follow-on clearance package in 2010, a postponement of the transition to site level reporting on a weekly basis was sought and approved in order to allow time for EIA to reassess sampling methods and burden estimates and implement improved data processing capabilities to handle the expected increase in reported data.

The postponement was requested due to 1) the significant increase in the number of sampled reporting units drawn from the Form EIA-815 sampling frame, that would be needed on Form EIA-805 to accommodate reporting by site, and 2) the greater amount of data that would result from the increased sample size that, in turn, increases burden on reporting companies to report and the government to process. Because the transition was postponed, current weekly reporting continues to have bulk terminal inventories reported by PADD on Form EIA-801, while blending activity is reported by site on Form EIA-805. It is worth noting that work has begun to transition to reporting by site by having companies reporting on Form EIA-801 file reports for individual sites rather than for their entire company.

The cut-off method is used as the sampling procedure for all the surveys in this package that use samples. In the cut-off method, companies are ranked from largest to smallest on the basis of quantities reported on monthly surveys for each publication item within each geographic publication region. Monthly data used are the most recent report period signed off for publication. Companies are chosen for the sample beginning with the largest published monthly value and adding companies until the total sample covers approximately 90 percent of the total volumes reported for each sampled survey, product, and region in monthly data used for sampling. Application of the cut-off sampling method described here requires discretion based on expert judgment. For example, when a major U.S. refinery is temporarily out of operation because of maintenance or for other reasons, then that refinery would not be removed from the sample even though this might be the result of applying the cut-off sampling method strictly as described. In practice, weekly samples tend to include the same facilities over time because much of the petroleum supply industry is relatively stable, but there are some areas, such as natural gas plant liquids, crude oil storage, and biofuels, that are experiencing a higher degree of change leading to more changes in weekly samples.

As a result of the move to site level reporting on the monthly Form EIA-815, the survey frame increased from 450 to 1,494 respondents. Using the existing sampling methodology, the sample size on the corresponding weekly survey, the Form EIA-805, increased from 445 to 968 respondents.

Since the postponement of the transition to site level reporting on a weekly basis, maintenance of the systems put into place to account for the disconnect of monthly and weekly data has continued to increase while the ability for the weekly surveys to produce reasonable sample-based estimations and to utilize quality control processes has become more difficult. Also, the current sample size of the Form EIA-805 has increased to 533 while the Form EIA-801 sample size is 229. Because reporting on Form EIA-801 is by company rather than site, the sample of 229 companies includes more than 50 cases where multiple terminals are included on one report. In total, these reports by company rather than by site account for stocks at over 750 individual terminals. The combined sample size of 762 reports filed on Forms EIA-801 (229 reports) and EIA-805 (533 reports) is estimated to increase by less than 200 while accounting for nearly the same number of individual terminals. This increase in sample size is estimated to only marginally impact the burden to industry, since most of the additional terminals that would be added are already accounted for in the current Form EIA-801 sample as part of a corporate “rollup.” In fact, site based reporting will actually eliminate the requirement for companies to consolidate reporting from multiple terminals on Form EIA-801 and could reduce burden in some cases. Meanwhile, the WPSRS has been modified for automated extraction of data from emailed survey forms, which has significantly reduced the burden on the weekly process. The WPSRS is currently undergoing a transformation process designed to streamline the collection of data using new technology.

The following are specific changes proposed to expand Form EIA-805:

  • Add stocks of total natural gas plant liquids (NGPL) and liquefied refinery gases (LRG)

  • Add stocks of propane and propylene (a subset of total NGPL and LRG)

  • Add stocks of nonfuel propylene (a subset of propane/propylene stocks)

  • Add stocks of residual fuel oil

  • Add stocks of unfinished oils

  • Add stocks of products currently listed on Form EIA-805, including:

    • Fuel ethanol

    • Finished Motor Gasoline, Reformulated, blended with Fuel Ethanol

    • Finished Motor Gasoline, Reformulated, Other

    • Finished Motor Gasoline, Conventional, blended with Fuel Ethanol, Ed55 and lower

    • Finished Motor Gasoline, Conventional, blended with Fuel Ethanol, Greater than Ed55

    • Finished Motor Gasoline, Conventional, Other

    • Motor Gasoline Blending Components, Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending (RBOB)

    • Motor Gasoline Blending Components, Conventional Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending (CBOB)

    • Motor Gasoline Blending Components, Gasoline Treated as Blendstock (GTAB)

    • Motor Gasoline Blending Components, All Other

    • Kerosene-Type Jet Fuel

    • Distillate Fuel Oil by Sulfur Category (15 ppm sulfur and under, Greater than 15 ppm to 500 ppm sulfur, and Greater than 500 ppm sulfur)

Discontinue Collecting Maximum Sustainable Fuel Ethanol Production Capacity

EIA proposes to discontinue the reporting of maximum sustainable fuel ethanol capacity on Form EIA-819, “Monthly Oxygenate Report.” Maximum sustainable capacity was originally envisioned as a measure of surge capacity for fuel ethanol. However, the quantities reported for maximum sustainable fuel ethanol capacity proved to not be useful for measuring surge capacity. EIA has determined that fuel ethanol surge capacity can be adequately measured in a statistically valid way using fuel ethanol production and nameplate capacity data reported on Form EIA-819.

Inclusion of EIA-22M in PSRS Data Collection

EIA proposes to include the Form EIA-22M, “Monthly Biodiesel Production Survey,” in the PSRS data collection. The Form EIA-22M was previously approved under OMB Number 1905-0207. Following approval of merger, EIA will submit a discontinue request to OMB for the existing EIA-22M collection.

Changes to Data Protection Policies

Form EIA-810, “Monthly Refinery Report”

Beginning with data for January 2013, EIA proposes to change the data protection policy regarding monthly atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity reported on Form EIA-810 “Monthly Refinery Report.” EIA proposes to no longer protect monthly atmospheric crude oil distillation reported on Form EIA-810 and release these data as public information in identifiable form.

Protecting the atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity data that are collected monthly on Form EIA-810 is inconsistent with the public release of this same information reported annually on Form EIA-820. Atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity data collected on Form EIA-820, “Annual Refinery Report,” are released each year in identifiable form, by company and refinery site. These data appear in the Refinery Capacity Report available from the EIA website, at http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/refinerycapacity/.

This change is proposed so that EIA may release reports and other analytical information products that contain statements related to atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity at specific refineries based on monthly data, rather than relying solely upon annual data that are less current. Under the current disclosure limitation policy, EIA is able to make refinery-specific statements about capacity based on data from Form EIA-820, but the public’s interest is in data that are more current. Release of monthly crude oil distillation capacity information by refinery reported on Form EIA-810 will promote public understanding of energy markets and assist state and local governments and other energy planners that use these data for energy emergency planning. EIA contends that the release of atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity reported on Form EIA-810 will not cause competitive harm, because similar data are already publicly released by EIA in the Annual Refinery Capacity Report, and refinery-specific capacity data are widely quoted in press reports.

Atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity is the only variable on Form EIA-810 that EIA is proposing not to protect. All other information reported on Form EIA-810 will continue to be protected to the extent that it satisfies the criteria for exemption under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. §552, 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.

Form EIA-819, “Monthly Oxygenate Report”

Beginning with data collected for January 2013, EIA proposes to treat all information reported on fuel ethanol nameplate production capacity on Form EIA-819 as public information and release it on EIA’s website. EIA will change the instructions on Form EIA-819 to state that this information will be available to the public.

The publicly available ethanol nameplate production capacity information would be identifiable by company and facility. The data protection policy for all other information reported on Form EIA-819 will remain the same and be protected to the extent that the information qualifies as confidential commercial information under the criteria for exemption in the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. §552; the Department of Energy (DOE) regulations, 10 C.F.R. Part 1004, which implement the FOIA; and the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. §1905.

This proposed policy change is based on EIA’s mandate for carrying out a central, comprehensive, and unified energy data and information program responsive to users’ needs for credible, reliable, and timely energy information that will improve and broaden understanding of energy in the United States. The publication of fuel ethanol plant nameplate production capacities by facility will provide comparable upstream information similar to refineries, will be useful to assess upstream gasoline market supply conditions, and is consistent with past EIA practices.

EIA releases on its website, on an annual basis, the atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity and downstream charge capacity, by state, for each U.S. oil refinery in the Refinery Capacity Report. One important use of ethanol is for blending with gasoline. By providing nameplate capacity information at the facility level for ethanol production and other refined petroleum products, supply conditions within a region or state may be assessed in the event of a supply disruption.

Fuel ethanol production capacities were previously collected by EIA on Form EIA-819A, “Annual Oxygenate Capacity Report,” as of January 1 for years 1993-1995 and released by company and facility in the Petroleum Supply Annual. Form EIA-819A was discontinued in 1996. The proposal to release fuel ethanol plant nameplate production capacity collected on Form EIA-819, beginning with data for January 1, 2013, is consistent with past EIA practices and will improve the utility of the data by permitting comparisons on the growth in capacity at the state level over the past twenty years.

EIA does not anticipate the release of fuel ethanol plant nameplate production capacity data to cause competitive harm to respondents to Form EIA-819, because this type of information is currently publicly available from other exogenous sources through the Internet. The Renewable Fuels Association publishes for most companies their nameplate ethanol production capacity, as well as the actual operating production and under-construction capacity, at the facility level at http://www.ethanolrfa.org/bio-refinery-locations. EIA is proposing to release at the facility level only nameplate production capacity and will continue to protect all other information reported on Form EIA-819 from being released in identifiable form.

Form EIA-22M, “Monthly Biodiesel Production Survey”

Beginning with data collected for January 2013, EIA proposes to treat all information reported on biodiesel production capacity on Form EIA-22M as public information that may be released on EIA’s website. EIA will document this change by amending the instructions on Form EIA-22M to state that all Form EIA-22 information will not be protected and will be made available in identifiable form by company and facility.

This change will provide for a protection policy for biodiesel production capacity data that is consistent with current EIA policies related to oil refinery capacity and the data protection policy proposed for fuel ethanol production capacity. Because biodiesel is increasingly used as a blending component in U.S. distillate fuel oil (including diesel fuel and heating oil), detailed production capacity at the plant level is important for assessment of upstream distillate fuel oil supply conditions. Biodiesel production capacities by plant are currently publicly available for most plants from the National Biodiesel Board website at http://www.nbb.org/about-us/member-plants/nbb-member-plant-lists. EIA does not anticipate competitive harm to biodiesel producers from the release of biodiesel production capacity data collected on Form EIA-22M.

Finally, EIA proposes to further modify the data protection policy for monthly biodiesel production and stocks data reported on Form EIA-22M by not applying any disclosure limitation methodology to the published statistical aggregates for quantities of biodiesel production and stocks at the Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD) level. The existing data protection policy provides for application of disclosure limitation procedures to statistical data published from Form EIA-22M to minimize the risk of disclosure of company identifiable information in data aggregated to the national, regional, or state levels. Under the current program, aggregated production data may be withheld (i.e. aggregated data values are replaced by “W”) if the company data contributing to the aggregated data item is such a high percentage of the aggregate data item that releasing the aggregate cell value effectively reveals close estimates of an individual company’s reported data.. EIA proposes to discontinue application of disclosure limitation procedures to biodiesel production and stocks data, but these procedures would continue to be applied to other published statistical aggregates based on data collected on Form EIA-22M.

The change in data protection policy for production and stocks of biodiesel collected on Form EIA-22M is prompted by the fact that biodiesel production and stocks data at the company level may already be inferred from data on the Petroleum Supply Monthly and Petroleum Supply Annual reports, and the accuracy and completeness of some PADD level-reporting could be impacted by disclosure limitations. EIA uses biodiesel production in petroleum supply and disposition balance tables (with data for the U.S. and PADDs) published in the Petroleum Supply Monthly and Petroleum Supply Annual. Disclosure limitation procedures are not applied to data in these two reports, so it is possible that U.S. and PADD level totals reported in the Petroleum Supply Monthly and Petroleum Supply Annual may be dominated by data from one or two large companies, thereby making it possible for a knowledgeable person to estimate information reported by a particular company.

It is important to note that EIA is not proposing to explicitly report biodiesel production and stocks in company identifiable form, but only to discontinue application of disclosure limitation procedures to U.S. and PADD level biodiesel production and stocks totals calculated from data reported on Form EIA-22M. Applying statistical disclosure limitation procedures that withhold biodiesel production data would potentially prevent EIA from accurately reporting data on distillate fuel oil supply, disposition, and demand including biodiesel, especially when summarized at the PADD level. Disclosure limitation procedures will continue to be applied to the other data reported on Form EIA-22M.

Please refer to the proposed forms and instructions for more information about the purposes, who must report, when to report, where to submit, the elements to be reported, detailed instructions, provisions for confidentiality, and uses (including possible non-statistical uses) of the information in the PSRS data collection.

The information collection proposed in this supporting statement has been reviewed in light of applicable information quality guidelines. It has been determined that the information will be collected, maintained, and used in a manner consistent with the Department of Energy (DOE), and EIA information quality guidelines.

JUSTIFICATION

  1. Legal Authority

The authority for these data collections is provided by the following provisions:

15 U.S.C. §772(b), Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (FEA Act), Public Law 93-275, outlines the types of individuals subject to the information collection authority delegated to the [Secretary] and the general parameters of the type of data which can be required. Section 772(b) states:

“All persons owning or operating facilities or business premises who are engaged in any phase of energy supply or major energy consumption shall make available to the [Secretary] such information and periodic reports, records, documents, and other data relating to the purposes of this Act, including full identification of all data and projections as to source, time, and methodology of development, as the [Secretary] may prescribe by regulation or order as necessary or appropriate for the exercise of functions under the Act.”

The functions of the FEA Act are set forth in 15 U.S.C. §764(b), of the FEA Act, which states that the Administrator shall, to the extent he is authorized by Section 764(a) of the FEA Act,

“(2) assess the adequacy of energy resources to meet demands in the immediate and longer range future for all sectors of the economy and for the general public; ...

(4) ...develop plans and programs for dealing with energy production shortages;

(5) promote stability in energy prices to the consumer, promote free and open competition in all aspects of the energy field, prevent unreasonable profits within the various segments of the energy industry, and promote free enterprise;

(6) assure that energy programs are designed and implemented in a fair and efficient manner so as to minimize hardship and inequity while assuring that the priority needs of the Nation are met;...

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

As the authority for invoking Section 764(b), above, 15 U.S.C. §764(a), of the FEA Act, in turn, states:

“Subject to the provisions and procedures set forth in this Act, the [Secretary] shall be responsible for such actions as are taken to assure that adequate provision is made to meet the energy needs of the Nation. To that end, he shall make such plans and direct and conduct such programs related to the production, conservation, use, control, distribution, rationing, and allocation of all forms of energy as are appropriate in connection with only those authorities or functions:

(1) specifically transferred to or vested in him by or pursuant to this Act: ...

(3) ...otherwise specifically vested in the Administrator by the Congress.”

Additional authority for this information collection is provided by 15 U.S.C. §790a of the FEA Act, which states that the Administrator:

“... [Shall] establish a National Energy Information System ... [which] shall contain such information as is required to provide a description of and facilitate analysis of energy supply and consumption within and affecting the United States on the basis of such geographic areas and economic sectors as may be appropriate ...

(b) ...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 nonmineral energy resources and the production, distribution, and marketing of mineral fuels and electricity;

(2) the consumption of mineral fuels, nonmineral energy resources, and electricity by such classes, sectors, and regions as may be appropriate for the purposes of this Act;...

(5) ...industrial, labor, and regional impacts of changes and patterns of energy supply and consumption.”

  1. 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.

The need for information from the PSRS data collection can be described, as follows:

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

In line with its mandated responsibility to collect data that adequately describe the petroleum supply marketplace, EIA has been and will continue to be asked to evaluate the significance of a number of important issues related to the energy industry, in general, and the 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.

  1. 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.

Data from the forms in the PSRS are published or released 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), Annual Energy Review (AER), Short‑Term Energy Outlook (STEO), Annual Energy Outlook (AEO), Refinery Capacity Report, and numerous other EIA products.

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.

Data collected weekly using Forms EIA-800, 802 through 805 and 809 are similar, although less detailed, than the data collected monthly using Forms EIA-810, 812 through 816 and 819. Respondents to the weekly surveys represent a sample of those reporting on the monthly surveys. The Form EIA-817 is also used to collect data on a monthly basis.

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 revolution in Iran. 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.

The availability of electronic access to the WPSR and the TWIP has promoted at least 1 million views of the data, annually. 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, 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).

Providing Web-based output from the WPSR and the TWIP has reduced the number of ad hoc requests to EIA for current petroleum supply information, ensured consistency in the supply information which is provided to the public, and acted as a deterrent to undue reaction to isolated petroleum supply problems. 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.

EIA maintains that the data collected on these forms 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. In recent years, Form EIA-819 has become particularly 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.

  1. Use of Information Technology

In an effort to reduce respondent burden and to provide for more timely processing of filings, automated reporting of the PSRS data is accepted, provided such reports are prepared and transmitted to EIA in the same format as in the data collection form. Data are submitted by the Internet using secure file transfer and by facsimile, email, and the PC Electronic Data Reporting Option (PEDRO). In addition, companies reporting on Form EIA-22M use an Internet data collection system, called the “Integrated Survey Management System” (ISMS).

In various EIA surveys, several large respondents provide computer-generated reports in lieu of completing report forms. EIA encourages this type of reporting in order to reduce respondent burden.

EIA encourages its survey respondents to transmit data using the Secure File Transfer System of a Microsoft Excel® spreadsheet through the Internet, or to use PEDRO. 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.

  1. Technical Considerations to Reduce Burden

PEDRO was developed to reduce respondent burden and provide timely data to EIA. PEDRO is an advanced electronic data communications software package. It facilitates a fast, accurate, and efficient transmission of data from remote sites to a central computing facility. Through use of a personal computer for data entry, the user is provided by PEDRO with an image of a hard copy survey form. Users enter numeric data and text using the keyboard, or import data from another computer system. PEDRO has the capability to perform a variety of data checks by comparing data against lists of acceptable values, or criteria derived from historical data. Security of the data transmission is accomplished through the use of passwords and data encryption. Data accuracy is ensured by several levels of error detection.

EIA is currently engaged in work to upgrade its electronic reporting options, using the Internet. This work will ultimately replace both PEDRO and ISMS, which is used for the EIA-22M survey.

  1. Efforts to Identify Duplication and Analysis of Similar Existing Information

EIA has conducted extensive reviews to ensure its petroleum supply surveys do not duplicate other available data. In addition, EIA has analysts who are very knowledgeable of the petroleum data that review these survey forms. As changes are proposed to petroleum supply survey forms, EIA conducts extensive review processes to ensure the avoidance of the unnecessary collection of data. Through discussions with trade associations, private companies, and other government offices, every effort has been be made to identify potential duplication of data, data that is no longer necessary, or data that can be collected more efficiently by another survey.

EIA has evaluated all known sources of data relating to petroleum supply and found no other sources to be as comprehensive or detailed to replace the data collections currently utilized by the Federal Government. Other sources were determined to not be sufficient to replace or approximate the information collected by EIA, because of differences in classification, or due to the lack of universe estimation procedures.

This is the first petroleum supply survey clearance to include Form EIA-22M “Monthly Biodisel Production Survey” and so we include discussion of other biodiesel data sources. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires all producers of renewable fuels to report their production to EPA under authority from the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPACT 2005) on forms entitled Renewable Fuel Standard Compliance Report Forms. The EPA program is designed to track Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) that are generated by producers, and not specifically to track market activities such as production, sales, etc. While RIN generation can be useful as an indicator of biofuel production, EIA believes it is necessary to collect survey data specifically aimed at biodiesel production, and other data on Form EIA-22M in order to fulfill statistical requirements for biofuel market information. The EPA data on RIN generation are collected on a quarterly basis, two months after the end of each quarter. Therefore, the timing of these EPA reports is not consistent with the monthly schedule of EIA data releases. Another survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau (Census Form M311K – “Fats and Oils: Production, Consumption, and Stocks, data for all fats and oils consumed in methyl ester (biodiesel)” was discontinued. The last available data from Census Form M311K was for August 2011. The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) maintains a plant list of its members. The information collected by the NBB includes plant location, nameplate capacity and primary feedstocks used. However, these data are not collected via a statistical survey, nor are they complete, as not all biodiesel producers are members of the NBB. This source also does not always track changes in feedstocks and/or capacities on a timely basis.

When changes are proposed to petroleum supply survey forms, an extensive review of other sources relating to these types of data is performed.

  1. Burden Reduction for Small Businesses and Small Entities

The data requested in the PSRS collection provide the minimum information necessary to fulfill EIA's responsibility to provide meaningful, timely, objective, and accurate petroleum supply data. Respondents to the survey complete only those data elements applicable to their operations. Sampling practices are utilized for the weekly surveys in order to minimize burden on respondents while still ensuring that quality summary-level data can be estimated for publication. 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. Also, EIA staff members are available during normal business hours to provide assistance by telephone.

  1. Consequences of Less Frequent Reporting

Less frequent reporting would degrade EIA’s capability to meet its mandate of providing timely and reliable energy information. Data are required at both the weekly and monthly levels in order to satisfy EIA’s programmatic needs as described in Section 2 above. 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.

On a weekly basis, the data on the Forms EIA-800 through EIA-804 have been collected since 1979, while data on the Form EIA-805 have been collected since 2004 and on the 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. The Forms EIA-810 through EIA-819 are collected on a monthly basis and are published in the Petroleum Supply Monthly, Monthly Energy Review, Petroleum Supply Annual and the Annual Energy Review. 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. 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.

  1. Special Circumstances

There are not any special circumstances for the PSRS data collection.

  1. Summary of Consultation Outside the EIA

A request for comments from interested persons was solicited in a notice describing the proposed extension of the forms and proposed modifications to each form. The notice was published June 11, 2012, in the Federal Register, pp. 34,368-34,371. An announcement of the Federal Register notice was sent to a list of trade associations and other interested petroleum data programs. In addition, the notice and proposed versions of the forms were posted in several locations on the EIA website.

Summary of Responses to Federal Register Notice of June 11, 2012:

As of August 27, 2012, there were four responses to the Federal Register Notice. These responses are summarized, below.

Mr. Robert Dineen, President of the Renewable Fuels Association, submitted a letter expressing concern that EIA’s proposed change to the data protection policy and publication of maximum sustainable capacity to produce fuel ethanol on Form EIA-819 would cause competitive harm to certain fuel ethanol producers by effectively revealing historical production data. In response to this comment, EIA reassessed the utility of collecting maximum sustainable fuel ethanol production capacity and determined that the data were not useful for the intended purpose of estimating surge capacity for fuel ethanol production. Therefore, EIA decided to propose that collection of maximum sustainable fuel ethanol production capacity be discontinued, thereby reducing reporting burden and also addressing concerns about release of the maximum sustainable capacity for individual fuel ethanol producers.

Mr. Dennis Fixler, Chief Statistician at the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), submitted a letter supporting continued collection of petroleum supply data by EIA. BEA uses petroleum data collected on EIA surveys to prepare estimates of personal consumption expenditures in GDP, change in private inventories in the GDP and gross output in the annual input-output (I-O) table and in GDP-by-industry, and gross output in the annual I-O table and in GDP-by-industry. In response, EIA acknowledged the BEA letter.

Mr. Larry Schafer, Senior Advisor to the National Biodiesel Board (NBB), submitted detailed comments in response to the proposed extension of Form EIA-22M. In summary, Mr. Schafer’s comments included the following points:

  • EIA should assess U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reporting requirements for renewable fuels, determine the extent to which these duplicate EIA reporting requirements and, if possible, eliminate duplicate reporting requirements.

  • EIA should match biodiesel feedstocks listed on Form EIA-22M with the feedstocks approved on in the approval process by EPA as “advanced biofuel.” Furthermore, EIA should make feedstock types listed on Form EIA-22M consistent with those listed on EPA reports, particularly since many changes made to feedstock names used on EPA reports are chosen specifically to eliminate ambiguity.

  • EIA should discontinue collecting data on total B100 sold in biodiesel blends.

  • EIA should modify the title of Form EIA-22M from “Monthly Biodiesel Production Survey” to “Monthly Biomass-based Diesel Production Survey” and align producers with approved facilities under the RFS2 Biomass-based Diesel program.

  • EIA should identify biodiesel as a distinct fuel on Form EIA-815 for purposes of reporting terminal and blending activity.

EIA appreciates the very detailed and helpful comments submitted by Mr. Schafer on behalf of the NBB. EIA believes all or most of the comments should be incorporated into EIA surveys, though not necessarily in the form recommended by the NBB. For example, EIA clearly should use feedstock names and definitions consistent with EPA. However, it remains unclear whether the Form EIA-22M is the optimal survey vehicle for collecting production data across all of the various fuels that fall under the general heading of biomass-based diesel fuel--note that certain renewable diesel supplies are already captured in data reported by refinery operators on Form EIA-810.

Regardless, EIA currently has extremely limited capacity to modify existing petroleum survey forms and, more importantly, the associated data processing systems. This is especially true of Form EIA-22M, which is reported by respondents using ISMS for internet data collection. ISMS is no longer supported and, therefore, is very nearly impossible to change.

The replacement of ISMS for receipt and processing data collected on Form EIA-22M is a top priority of system development and transformation work at EIA. EIA proposes to continue using the existing Form EIA-22M without changes (except for the data protection policy change described earlier), complete work to replace the existing survey data collection and processing systems, and then develop a plan to address the issues raised in the NBB comments.

Mr. Jerry Cunningham commented that the lack of data on inter-PADD movements of petroleum and biofuels is a “…glaring omission, something that the EIA should be collecting, but is not.” Mr. Cunningham proceeded to describe how the lack of rail transportation data compromises the accuracy of regional petroleum and biofuels balances. He believes it is unfair for EIA to impose a reporting burden on operators of pipelines and shippers by tankers and barges while not imposing a similar burden on rail operators and/or rail shippers of petroleum and biofuels. Mr. Cunningham further commented that current data available from the Association of American Railroads and Surface Transportation Board are inadequate for assessing inter-PADD movements of petroleum and biofuels.

Finally, regarding the proposed transition to bulk terminal reporting on Form EIA-805 and elimination of Form EIA-801, Mr. Cunningham commented that there should be a period of overlap in reporting on both surveys in order to objectively determine that reporting on Form EIA-805 produces weekly inventory estimates that are at least as good as estimates produced from data collected on the existing Form EIA-801.

EIA appreciates Mr. Cunningham’s detailed, thoughtful, and useful comments and will institute a 4-12 week transition in reporting from the old forms to the new. EIA is committed to minimizing the duplication of collections and therefore is not inclined to administer the same questions on multiple forms to the same respondents but does believe that a transition period will ensure that EIA and respondents can address any issues related to the transition to the new form. EIA agrees that the lack of rail data in EIA balances for crude oil, petroleum products, and biofuels is a serious problem for all of the reasons identified by Mr. Cunningham and also for other reasons (e.g. EIA needs to improve data on stocks in transit by rail as well as inter-PADD movements).

For the past several years, EIA has been working on a possible solution to the lack of data about transporting petroleum by rail that involves using data already collected by the rail industry. However, because of problems with data availability, cost, and interpretation, it appears that it will be necessary for EIA to conduct further investigation in order to best capture these rail data either on one or more existing surveys, or to create a new survey for this purpose.

Regarding Mr. Cunningham’s comments on the transition to reporting all weekly bulk terminal data on Form EIA-805 and discontinuing reporting on Form EIA-801, EIA believes that the requested parallel reporting on both surveys is unnecessary for assuring data quality. EIA required parallel reporting on Forms EIA-811 and EIA-815 during the transition to monthly reporting, and this process allowed EIA to identify and correct many cases of misreporting; mostly in the Form EIA-811 data. However, in the case of the Forms EIA-801/EIA-805 transition, EIA has well-established reporting by terminals on Form EIA-815 that can be used for comparison to assess the accuracy and completeness of data reported on Form EIA-805 (there was no such basis for comparison and assessment of data available at the time of the monthly transition from Form EIA-811 to Form EIA-805). EIA believes that the assessment of data reported on Form EIA-805 can best be accomplished by comparison with data reported on Form EIA-815, and parallel reporting on Forms EIA-801 and EIA-805 would impose significant extra reporting burden on companies, without providing significant data quality improvements.

  1. Remuneration

There will not be any payments made or gifts given to respondents as an incentive to complete the PSRS surveys.

  1. Disclosure of Information

All Petroleum Supply Reporting System survey forms, with the exception of the Form EIA-814, Monthly Imports Report, utilize the same general confidentiality statement. All information reported on Form EIA-814 is considered “public information” and may be publicly released in company or individually identifiable form, and is not be protected from disclosure in identifiable form.

In addition to the use of the data collected in PSRS surveys 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.

Excluding the Form EIA-814, the following statement is provided in the survey instructions for each form:

“PROVISIONS REGARDING CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION

The information reported on Forms EIA-22M, 810, 812, 813, 815 through 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, 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.”

Special provisions are made for the Forms EIA-22M, 810, 812, 813, 815 through 817, 819 and 820 which state the following:

“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-812: The data collected on Form EIA-812, “Monthly Product Pipeline Report,” is used to report aggregate statistics on and conduct analyses of end-of-month stocks and movements of petroleum products by pipeline.

Form EIA-813: The data collected on Form EIA-813, “Monthly Crude Oil Report,” is used to report aggregate statistics on and conduct analyses of end-of-month stocks and movements of crude oil by pipeline.

Form EIA-815: The data collected on Form EIA-815, “Monthly Terminal Blenders Report,” is used to report aggregate statistics on and conduct analyses of the motor gasoline blending activity at terminals.

Form EIA-816: The data collected on Form EIA-816, “Monthly Natural Gas Liquids Report,” is used to report aggregate statistics on and conduct analyses of the operation of U.S. natural gas processing plants and fractionators.

Form EIA-817: The data collected on Form EIA-817, “Monthly Tanker and Barge Movement Report,” is used to report aggregate statistics on and conduct analyses of movements of crude oil and petroleum products.

Form EIA-819: The data collected on Form EIA-819, “Monthly Oxygenate Report,” are used to report aggregate statistics on and conduct analyses of the operation of U.S. oxygenate plants. Information on fuel ethanol nameplate production capacity reported on Form EIA-819 is 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, 1 0 C.F.R. §1004.11, implementing the FOIA, and the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. §1905.

Form EIA-22M: The data collected on Form EIA-22M, “Monthly Biodiesel Production Survey,” are used to aggregate statistics on and conduct analyses of the operation of U.S. biodiesel production plants. Biodiesel production capacity data reported on Form EIA-22M are considered public information and may be released in identifiable form, by company and plant facility. Disclosure limitation procedures are not applied to total B100 production reported in Section 3 of Form EIA-22M. Thus, there may be some statistics on total B100 production aggregated for Petroleum Administration for Defense Districts that are based on data from fewer than three companies, or that are dominated by data from one or two large companies. In these cases, it may be possible for a knowledgeable person to estimate the information reported by a specific company using published regional aggregated data.

Form EIA-820: Information on operable atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity, downstream charge capacity, and production capacity reported on Form EIA-820 will be considered public information and may be released in company or individually 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.”

For the nine (9) surveys referenced above, the additional sentence below on data sharing is also included:

“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.”

The data appear in EIA publications such as Petroleum Supply Monthly, Monthly Energy Review, Petroleum Supply Annual, and the Annual Energy Review. Company-specific data are also provided to other DOE offices for the purpose of examining specific facility operations in the context of emergency response planning and actual emergencies.

EIA publishes tables in the PSM and the PSA based on the data submitted on these forms. The tables are not subject to statistical disclosure limitation procedures.

  1. Justification for Questions of a Sensitive Nature

The PSRS data collections do not contain questions of a sensitive nature.

  1. Estimates of Respondent Burden (Hours and Cost)

The estimates of respondent burden for the individual forms contained in this package are listed in Table A1. The overall annual respondent burden is estimated to be 213,562 hours for 2013. The estimated costs to respondents for the burden hours are estimated to be $14,466,690 (213,562 hours times $67.74 per hour) for 2013. An average cost per hour of $67.74 is used, because that is the average loaded (salary plus benefits) cost for an EIA employee at the time of this writing. EIA assumes that the survey respondent workforce completing surveys for EIA is comparable with the EIA workforce.


Table A1 Estimated Respondent Burden

  1. Estimates of Cost Burden to Respondents

EIA estimates that there are not any additional costs to respondents associated with the surveys in the PSRS other than the costs associated with the burden hours as set forth in Item 13, above.

  1. Estimates of Annual Cost to the Government

The annual costs of the PSRS data collection to the Federal Government, including personnel, systems development and maintenance, collection, processing, analysis, and publication are estimated to be $5,955,658.

  1. Changes in Burden to Respondents

This clearance package had two burden adjustments during the previous three year cycle. The adjustments reflect a collection related to a hurricane and a modification to the EIA-812 and EIA-813 survey forms. The overall burden for the PSRS program is estimated to be 213,562 hours, annually, for all the forms included in this clearance package. The PSRS information collections are currently approved under OMB control number 1905-0165 for a total existing burden of 210,859 hours without the Form EIA-22M added to the PSRS package. The EIA-22M has a total burden of 5,400 hours. Therefore the total existing burden for the combined collection is 216,249 hours. This proposed data collection request is estimated to result in a net decrease of 2,687 hours for all PSRS forms (See Table A2). The net decrease in annual burden hours is primarily due to reassessment of the time required for survey respondents to comply with storage capacity reporting requirements implemented in 2010 and a decrease in the number of reporting units considered on Form EIA-810. The decreased burden hours were mostly offset by the increased burden resulting from the transition from Form EIA-801 to the expanded Form EIA-805. This transition results in an increase in the quantity of respondents in the Form EIA-805 survey frame and an increase in questionnaire items previously reported by respondents to the Form EIA-801. EIA does not believe the burden estimates will be substantively impacted by the 4-12 week transition period and asserts any change in burden during that period should be considered nonsubstantive. The annual EIA-820 survey had a decrease of 79 annual burden hours, due to a reduction in the number of survey respondents resulting from refinery closures as well as a reduction in the time required to complete the survey due to elimination of the requirement to report storage capacity on Form EIA-820 that became effective in 2010.

Table A2 outlines changes in respondent reporting burden for the proposed PSRS data collection.


Table A2. Change in Burden to Respondents

  1. Data Collection and Publication

Plans to tabulate and publish data collected by the PSRS survey forms are as follows:

a. Forms 800 through 809

The data reported on Forms EIA-800 through 809 are collected, reviewed, tabulated and used by EIA to produce weekly statistics on refinery capacity utilization, refinery inputs of crude oil, and production, stocks, and imports of selected products. The data are collected by facsimile, Internet using secure file transfer, or PEDRO. The data are published in the WPSR and the TWIP as well as used as preliminary estimates in the PSM and MER.

The time schedule for weeks without federal holidays for the collection, processing and submission of the final report for publishing is as follows:

  1. Data collection due date- reports must be received by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) on the Monday following the end of the report period. The weekly report period begins at 7:01 a.m. ET on Friday and ends at 7:00 a.m. ET on the following Friday.

  2. Closeout- The file is closed to any data additions or corrections on Tuesday, close of business.

  3. Data processing and analysis - the updates resulting from data validation and editing occur on Tuesday, and finalized data are available by the close of business, Tuesday.

  4. Publication- the data are published in the WPSR and the TWIP every Wednesday for the report period ending on the previous Friday. Data are released electronically through EIA’s website at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday for selected tables from the WPSR and at 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday for the complete WPSR and the TWIP.

b. Forms EIA-810 through 817, 819, and 22M

The data reported on these EIA survey forms are collected, reviewed, and tabulated and used by EIA to provide monthly statistics on stocks, production, inputs, receipts, shipments, and imports of crude oil, petroleum products, and related biofuels. The data are collected by facsimile, Internet using secure file transfer, or electronic transmission. The data appear in several agency publications, the most prominent of which are the PSM, PSA, MER, and AER. The data are also used in other systems, such as EIA’s State Energy Data System, and for DOE short-term forecast models.

The time schedule for the collection, processing, and submission of the final report for publication is as follows:

  1. Data collection due date- reports must be received by the 20th calendar day after the end of the report month.

  2. Data Validation/Editing – Automated validation rules/edits are run on monthly survey data according to rules defined in the Standard Energy Processing System (STEPS). Edit failures help with identification of data items that require further investigation with reporting companies. Depending on the situation, resolution of edit failures may include acceptance of data as reported, contacting reporting companies for further explanation and possibly resubmission of the reported data with corrections, or imputation by EIA.

  3. Closeout- the file is closed to additions and corrections on the 10th calendar day of the second month following the report month

  4. Data Analysis and Validation – Data are compiled in a form similar to how they will be published including crude oil production and exports, which come from sources outside of the PSRS, as well as derived data. Derived data include balancing items to account for implied disposition of certain intermediate products (e.g. fuel ethanol and motor gasoline blending components), implied net receipts to account for unreported movements of fuel ethanol and biodiesel by rail and truck, and estimates of demand for petroleum products measured as product supplied. Preliminary publication values are then manually reviewed using graphs and data summaries to identify data items that require further investigation. Data items that require investigation are traced back to their origin in the surveys or external data. Here again, possible actions include accepting data as reported, contacting the reporting companies or originators of external data for further clarification and possible resubmission, or imputation by EIA.

  5. Publication- the PSM is published approximately 60 days after the end of the data reporting month. Tables are released electronically through the EIA website, in most cases on the next to last business day of each month.

c. Form EIA-820

The data reported on this form are collected, reviewed, tabulated and used by EIA to provide annual statistics on refinery receipts of crude oil by method of transportation during the preceding year; fuels consumed at the refinery during the preceding reporting year; current year; and next year projections, as of January 1, for operable atmospheric crude oil distillation capacity, downstream charge capacity, and production capacity. The data are collected by facsimile and Internet using secure file transfer. Data are published in the Refinery Capacity Report.

In 2013, the Form EIA-820 will collect actual annual data for the calendar year 2012 and projected data for 2013 and 2014. The form version will be the version approved by OMB at the time the annual reporting cycle is opened in late 2012. This PSRS data collection extension proposal does not include any proposed changes to Form EIA-820.

The time schedule for the collection, processing, and submission of the final report for publication is as follows:

  1. Data collection due date- reports must be received by February 15th following the report year.

  2. Closeout- the file is closed to additions or corrections approximately the middle of April following the report year.

  3. Data Validation/Editing – Automated validation rules/edits are run on Form EIA-820 data according to rules defined in the Standard Energy Processing System (STEPS). Edit failures help with identification of data items that require further investigation with reporting companies. Depending on the situation, resolution of edit failures may include acceptance of data as reported, contacting reporting companies for further explanation and, possibly resubmission of the reported data with corrections, or imputation, by EIA.

  4. Data processing and analysis- Most reports from refiners on Form EIA-820 are received on or before the due date of February 15. Editing begins when forms are received by EIA. Most edit failures are resolved within one to two weeks with most of the time being used by reporting companies to research questions and possibly send resubmissions. Update of final edits occurs during the first week of April.

  5. Publication- data appears in the Refinery Capacity Report and is released electronically on the EIA website in June.

  1. Display of Expiration Date and OMB Number

The OMB Number (1905-0165) and expiration date will be displayed on all the data collection forms and instructions.



File Typeapplication/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
File TitlePSRS Supporting Statement, Part A
SubjectOMB Forms Clearance Proces, PSRS Supporting Statement, Part A
AuthorSylvia Norris
File Modified0000-00-00
File Created2021-01-30
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