[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 247 (Thursday, December 27, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66688-66693]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-28062]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

U.S. Energy Information Administration


Agency Information Collection Extension

AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Notice and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: EIA requests a three-year extension with changes for the 
Petroleum Supply Reporting System (PSRS). The PSRS consists of six 
weekly surveys that make up the Weekly Petroleum Supply Reporting 
System (WPSRS), eight monthly surveys, and one annual survey. The 
weekly petroleum and biofuels supply surveys collect data on petroleum 
refinery operations, blending, biofuels production, inventory levels, 
imports of crude oil, petroleum products, and biofuels from samples of 
operating companies. The monthly and annual petroleum and biofuels 
supply surveys collect 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.

DATES: EIA must receive all comments on this proposed information 
collection no later than February 25, 2019. If you anticipate any 
difficulties in submitting your comments by the deadline, contact the 
person listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice as soon as 
possible.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments to Michael Conner, Petroleum, Natural 
Gas, and Biofuels Statistics, U.S. Energy Information Administration, 
Forrestal Building, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave. 
SW, EI-25 Washington, DC 20585. Submission via email to 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#bed3d7ddd6dfdbd290ddd1d0d0dbccfedbd7df90d9d1c8"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="117c78727970747d3f727e7f7f7463517478703f767e67">[email protected]</span></a> is recommended.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Conner, (202) 586-1795 email 
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection" class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="064b6f656e67636a2865696868637446636f6728616970">[email protected]</a>. The proposed forms and instructions are 
available on EIA's website at: https://www.eia.gov/survey/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information collection request 
contains:
    (1) OMB No. 1905-0165;
    (2) Information Collection Request Title: Petroleum Supply 
Reporting System;
    (3) Type of Request: Renewal with changes;
    (4) Purpose: EIA's PSRS is made up of Forms EIA-800 Weekly Refinery 
Report (previously the Weekly Refinery and Fractionator Report), EIA-
802 Weekly Product Pipeline Report, EIA-803 Weekly Crude Oil Stocks 
Report, EIA-804 Weekly Imports Report, EIA-805 Weekly Bulk Terminal 
Report (previously the Weekly Bulk Terminal and Blender Report), EIA-
809 Weekly Oxygenate Report, EIA-810 Monthly Refinery Report, EIA-812 
Monthly Product Pipeline Report, EIA-813 Monthly Crude Oil Report, EIA-
814 Monthly Imports Report, EIA-815 Monthly Bulk Terminal Report 
(previously the Monthly Bulk Terminal and Blender Report), EIA-816 
Monthly Natural Gas Plant Liquids Report, EIA-817 Monthly Tanker and 
Barge Movement Report, EIA-819 Monthly Biofuel and Fuel Oxygenate 
Report (previously the EIA-819 Monthly Oxygenate Report and EIA-22M 
Monthly Biodiesel Production Report), and EIA-820 Annual Refinery 
Report. The purpose of the PSRS is to collect detailed petroleum 
industry data to meet EIA's mandates and energy data users' needs for 
credible, reliable, and timely energy information on production, 
receipts, inputs, movements, and stocks of crude oil, petroleum 
products, natural gas plant liquids, and related biofuels in the United 
States. This information is used to evaluate supply conditions for 
crude oil and refined petroleum markets. Forms EIA-800, EIA-802, EIA-
803, EIA-804, EIA-805 and EIA-809 are designed to provide an early, 
initial estimate of weekly petroleum refinery operations, inventory 
levels, and imports of selected petroleum products. The WPSRS is the 
only comprehensive weekly government source of data about the current 
status of petroleum supply and disposition in the upstream petroleum 
markets for the United States. Forms EIA-810, EIA-812, EIA-813, EIA-
814, EIA-815, EIA-816, EIA-817, and EIA-819 are designed to provide 
statistically reliable and comprehensive monthly information on 
petroleum refining operations to EIA, federal agencies, and the private 
sector for use in forecasting, policy making, planning, and analysis. 
Form EIA-820 is an annual survey that provides data on refinery 
capacities, fuels consumed, 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 that shutdown during the previous year.
    (4a) Proposed Changes to Information Collection: The following 
changes are proposed to the data elements collected on surveys in the 
Petroleum Supply Reporting System (PSRS).

Forms EIA-800, EIA-802, EIA-803, EIA-804, EIA-805, EIA-810, EIA-812, 
EIA-813, EIA-814, EIA-815, EIA-816, EIA-817, EIA-819, EIA-820 (Except 
Form EIA-809)

    EIA proposes to change the unit of measurement from thousand 
barrels to barrels. Petroleum and biofuel supply surveys are 
increasingly being used to track relatively small-volume products, such 
as E85 motor fuel and biofuels. In these cases, rounding to the nearest 
thousand barrels fails to capture reportable activity because the 
quantities are too small to round up to 1,000 barrels (i.e. fewer than 
500 barrels) for a given period. EIA proposes to apply this change to 
all surveys within the PSRS, except Form EIA-809 where volumetric data 
on fuel ethanol will continue to be collected in gallons.

Forms EIA-800, EIA-802, EIA-804, EIA-805, EIA-810, EIA-812, EIA-814, 
EIA-815, EIA-817

    EIA proposes to reduce the number of separate finished motor 
gasoline products from nine to six and reorganize motor fuel categories 
to track ethanol blending. The proposed six categories are:

    [cir] Gasoline Not Blended with Ethanol (E0)
    [cir] Gasoline Blended with Ethanol up to E10
    [cir] Midblend Gasoline with Ethanol <ls-thn-eq> (E10-E50)
    [cir] Flex Fuel (E85) Blended with 51% to 83% Ethanol
    [cir] Reformulated Blendstock for Oxygenate Blending (RBOB)
    [cir] Motor Gasoline Blending Components


[[Page 66689]]


    Finished motor gasoline is currently distinguished by the 
categories of reformulated and conventional gasoline. These categories 
were developed in 1995 to track production of finished motor gasoline 
in a framework consistent with EPA's Clean Fuel programs. EIA is 
proposing changes to finished motor gasoline product categories to 
emphasize the ethanol content of motor fuel and to provide more 
relevant data for current energy policy decisions. Reducing the number 
of finished motor gasoline categories from nine to six simplifies 
reporting requirements while maintaining essential information for 
policy analysis and market assessments of gasoline and other motor 
fuels.
    The following additional changes are specific to each survey in the 
PSRS.

Form EIA-800

    <bullet> Discontinue separate reporting of commercial and military 
grade kerosene-type jet fuel. EIA will continue to collect total 
kerosene-type jet fuel which includes both commercial and military fuel 
grades. EIA determined that the separate reporting of military and 
commercial grades of kerosene-type jet fuel has limited utility.
    <bullet> Discontinue reporting total refinery input. The current 
requirement to report total refinery input is ambiguous and produces 
data of questionable accuracy. Add new rows, under the column headings 
for Input; Production; and Ending Stocks, to separately report 
unfinished oils, other biofuel and renewable fuel (excluding ethanol), 
hydrocarbon gas liquids (excluding propane), and total refinery 
olefins. Ethane, normal butane, isobutane, and natural gasoline will be 
reported as a single category under hydrocarbon gas liquids. This 
proposed change takes components of the current total input and 
separates them to clarify the data to be reported and improves data 
accuracy.

Form EIA-802

    <bullet> Discontinue collection of stocks of refinery olefins. EIA 
determined that the collection of weekly data on stocks of refinery 
olefins is no longer needed.
    <bullet> Add collection of total biofuels and renewable fuels 
excluding ethanol. Biofuels are increasingly important sources of U.S. 
fuel supplies. EIA has extensive weekly data for ethanol and needs 
additional weekly biofuel data to ensure that weekly fuel supply data 
are complete.

Form EIA-803

    <bullet> Discontinue collection of combined crude oil stocks held 
in pipelines and tank farms and replace it with separate reporting of 
crude oil stocks held in tank farms and pipelines. Separate reporting 
of crude oil stocks held in pipelines and tank farms allows for a more 
accurate assessment of available crude oil supplies. Crude oil stocks 
held in pipelines are essentially unavailable because pipelines must 
remain full to operate.
    <bullet> In Part 3, add separate reporting of crude oil stocks held 
in tank farms at Cushing, Oklahoma as either deliverable under NYMEX 
contract or not deliverable under NYMEX contract. Separate reporting of 
crude oil stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma that are deliverable under NYMEX 
contract provides improved market transparency.
    <bullet> In Part 5, add separate reporting of crude oil receipts as 
foreign or domestic and report shipments by mode of transportation and 
whether those crude oil shipments were to U.S. locations or exported 
for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR).
    <bullet> For waterborne shipments to U.S. locations, EIA proposes 
to add questions to identify the vessel and purchasing company of the 
crude oil. Shipments of crude oil from SPR are anticipated to continue 
for the next several years. EIA needs information on the shipments of 
crude oil to ensure that all barrels are accounted for in U.S. and 
regional statistics.

Form EIA-804

    <bullet> Add collection of total biofuels and renewable fuels 
excluding ethanol. Biofuels are increasingly important sources of U.S. 
fuel supplies. EIA has extensive weekly data for ethanol and needs 
additional weekly biofuel data to ensure that weekly fuel supply data 
are complete.

Form EIA-805

    <bullet> Discontinue collection of stocks of refinery olefins. EIA 
determined that the collection of weekly data on stocks of refinery 
olefins is no longer needed.
    <bullet> Add a question in Part 3 Terminal Activity to report 
ending stocks of consumer and export grade propane separately from 
propane stored as part of a mix of natural gas liquids and propane that 
does not meet specifications for either consumer or export grade 
propane. This change allows EIA to accurately determine the 
availability of propane that is ready for distribution and delivery to 
the market and compare it to propane that requires fractionation or 
other processing before it can be delivered.
    <bullet> Discontinue collection of data for Methyl Tertiary Butyl 
Ether (MTBE), Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE), and other oxygenates. 
Stocks and other data for MTBE, ETBE, and other fuel oxygenates at 
refineries and terminals are no longer needed for EIA to assess U.S. 
and regional volumetric petroleum supply balances.
    <bullet> Combine finished aviation gasoline and aviation gasoline 
blending components into a single product category. Production of 
aviation gasoline has declined over the years. Separate reporting of 
finished aviation gasoline and aviation gasoline blending components 
has limited utility. Combined reporting of aviation gasoline and 
aviation gasoline blending components is adequate to meet EIA data 
requirements.
    <bullet> Discontinue collection of total input for blending 
operations. In Part 3, EIA proposes to add the reporting of biofuel and 
renewable fuel under the column headings Input, Production, and Ending 
Stocks. Add the collection of ethane, normal butane, isobutane, and 
natural gasoline as a single category under the column headings Input 
and Ending stocks. The current requirement for operators of product 
storage and blending terminals to report total input for blending 
operations has been a persistent source of confusion for survey 
respondents and has produced data of questionable accuracy and limited 
utility. This proposed change takes components of the current total 
input and separates them to clarify the data to be reported and 
improves accuracy of the data for analysis.
    <bullet> Discontinue the separate reporting of propylene stocks. 
The collection of propylene stocks is no longer necessary to determine 
the propane component of combined propane and propylene stocks.

Form EIA-809

    <bullet> Discontinue separate reporting of denatured and 
undenatured fuel ethanol. Report production and week-ending stocks of 
total fuel ethanol including denatured and undenatured fuel ethanol as 
a single category. The separate reporting of denatured and undenatured 
ethanol caused confusion among survey respondents and data quality 
issues. EIA can assess ethanol supply conditions by collecting total 
ethanol (combined denatured and undenatured) production.

Form EIA-810

    <bullet> EIA proposes to replace the three residual fuel oil sulfur 
categories from: Less than 0.31% by weight; 0.31% by weight to 1% 
percent by weight; and greater than 1% by weight to four sulfur 
categories of:
    1. Less than or equal to 1,000 ppm,

[[Page 66690]]

    2. Greater than 1,000 ppm and less than or equal to 5,000 ppm,
    3. Greater than 5,000 ppm and less than or equal to 10,000 ppm, and
    4. Greater than 10,000 ppm.
    The four proposed sulfur categories for residual fuel oil are 
required for consistency with current marine fuel specifications and 
trade statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.
    <bullet> In Part 6, replace the three current biofuel reporting 
categories of biomass-based diesel fuel, other renewable diesel fuel, 
and other renewable fuels to the categories biodiesel, renewable diesel 
fuel, renewable heating oil, renewable jet fuel, renewable naphtha and 
gasoline, and other renewable fuels and intermediate products. These 
changes clarify the products and improve the utility of U.S. and 
regional data by collecting data on the specific types of renewable 
fuels that are increasingly more important in petroleum refinery 
operations.
    <bullet> Discontinue separate reporting of commercial and military 
grade kerosene-type jet fuel. EIA will only collect total kerosene-type 
jet fuel which includes both commercial and military fuel grades. EIA 
determined that the separate reporting of military and commercial 
grades of kerosene-type jet fuel has limited utility.
    <bullet> In Part 6, discontinue collection of storage capacity for 
September 30th, but will continue to collect storage capacity once each 
year as of March 31st. EIA determined that storage capacity data 
collected once each year (as of March 31st) are adequate for policy 
analysis and assessing market supply conditions.
    <bullet> In Part 6, rename the column heading idle storage capacity 
to temporarily out of service. EIA has found the phrase temporarily out 
of service to be more consistent than the term idle when describing 
storage capacity that is not in use at the time of reporting.
    <bullet> In Part 5, discontinue collection of ending stocks 
including stocks held on site and stocks in transit by water and rail 
under the column heading Stocks End of Month. Add two columns for 
separately reporting Stocks on site end of month and Stocks in transit 
to the refinery by water or rail end of month. Current EIA reporting 
instructions provide for stocks in transit by water and rail to be 
included in ending stocks reported on EIA surveys. Examination of 
stocks data shows that stocks in transit by water and rail may be 
undercounted and vary between reporting periods. The combined reporting 
of stocks in transit with ending stocks also complicates the data 
validation process for surveys that require volumetric balances. 
Separate reporting of stocks in transit simplifies the data processing 
and validation for surveys that require volumetric balances such as 
Form EIA-810 and Form EIA-815.
    <bullet> In Part 5, add collection of stocks, receipts, shipments, 
and fuel uses and losses separately for all individual hydrocarbon gas 
liquids (HGL) components. This change allows EIA to fully report 
hydrocarbon gas liquids. EIA currently estimates certain HGL data based 
on a model because separate data are unavailable. This change will 
replace the use of model-based estimates with actual data and allow EIA 
to generate more accurate supply estimates.
    <bullet> In Part 5, provide space on the form for refinery 
operators to reclassify unfinished oils and other products as crude oil 
by reporting these products as production of crude oil. Refiners 
sometimes add unfinished oils and other non-crude oil barrels to crude 
oil inventory. This change will allow refiners to report this practice 
as additional production of crude oil so the volumes can be included in 
the overall refinery balance and not ignored.
    <bullet> Add a new section, Part 6A Production of Renewable Fuels 
Co-Processed in the Refinery, to collect renewable fuels production co-
processed with petroleum in refineries. EIA is collecting more detailed 
information in this section because the number of U.S. refiners 
processing renewable feedstocks with petroleum is increasing. Adding 
this section to Form EIA-810 allows EIA to assess supply and track 
production from this emerging energy production activity.
    <bullet> Add a new section, Part 6B Consumption of Feedstocks for 
Renewable Fuels Production, to collect data on consumption of renewable 
feedstocks co-processed with petroleum in refineries. These data are 
required in order for EIA to provide a comprehensive accounting of 
renewable feedstocks for biofuel production.

Form EIA-812

    <bullet> In Part 3, replace the three current biofuel reporting 
categories of biomass-based diesel fuel, other renewable diesel fuel, 
and other renewable fuels to the categories biodiesel, renewable diesel 
fuel, renewable heating oil, renewable jet fuel, renewable naphtha and 
gasoline, and other renewable fuels and intermediate products. These 
changes clarify the products and will improve the utility of U.S. and 
regional data by collecting data on the specific types of renewable 
fuels that are growing increasingly more important in petroleum 
operations.
    <bullet> Discontinue collection of stocks of refinery olefins. EIA 
determined that the collection of data on stocks of refinery olefins is 
no longer needed.
    <bullet> In Part 3, discontinue collection of residual fuel stocks 
and delete the row for residual fuel (product code 511). The data has 
shown that residual fuel oil is a product not typically moved by 
pipeline.
    <bullet> In Part 4, discontinue collection of renewable fuel 
movements and delete the rows for fuel ethanol (product code 141), 
biomass-based diesel fuel (product code 203), other renewable diesel 
fuel (product code 205), and other renewable fuels (product code 207). 
EIA has found that inter-regional pipeline movements of these renewable 
fuels seldom occur and these data have limited utility for assessing 
fuel supply conditions.

Form EIA-813

    <bullet> Discontinue collecting storage capacity information as of 
September 30th, but continue to collect storage capacity once each year 
as of March 31st. EIA determined that storage capacity data collected 
once each year (as of March 31st) are adequate for policy analysis and 
assessing market supply conditions.
    <bullet> Parts 6 and 7 relating to storage capacity are re-numbered 
as Parts 8 and 9 in the new form.
    <bullet> Rename the column heading Idle in the storage capacity 
sections in Parts 6 and 7 of the current form, to temporarily out of 
service in Parts 8 and 9 of the new form. EIA has found the phrase 
temporarily out of service to be more consistent than the term idle 
when describing storage capacity that is not in use at the time of 
reporting.
    <bullet> Discontinue collection of ending stocks including stocks 
held on-site and stocks in transit by water and rail. Add reporting of 
stocks held on-site and stocks in transit by water and rail as separate 
reporting requirements in the facility activity section on Form EIA-813 
Part 5. Current EIA reporting instructions provide for stocks in 
transit by water and rail to be included in ending stocks reported on 
EIA surveys. Examination of stocks data suggests that stocks in transit 
by water and rail are undercounted and can vary between reporting 
periods. The combined reporting stocks in transit with ending stocks 
also complicates the data validation process for surveys that require 
volumetric balances. Separate reporting of Stocks in Transit in Part 5 
and Ending Stocks in Part 3 simplifies the data processing and 
validation for surveys that require volumetric balances such as Form 
EIA-810 and Form EIA-815.

[[Page 66691]]

    <bullet> Discontinue collection of combined crude oil stocks held 
in pipelines and tank farms and replace with separate reporting of 
crude oil stocks held in tank farms and pipelines. In Part 4, 
separately reporting crude oil stocks held in pipelines and tank farms 
allows for a more accurate assessment of available crude oil supplies. 
Crude oil stocks held in pipelines are essentially unavailable because 
pipelines must remain full in order to operate.
    <bullet> In Part 4, add collection of crude oil stocks held in tank 
farms at Cushing, Oklahoma as either deliverable under NYMEX contract 
or not deliverable under NYMEX contract. Separate reporting of crude 
oil stocks at Cushing, Oklahoma that are deliverable under NYMEX 
contract provides improved market transparency.
    <bullet> In Part 6, add collection of crude oil receipts as foreign 
or domestic and collection of shipments by mode of transportation and 
whether those shipments were to U.S. locations or exported for 
waterborne shipments to U.S. locations. EIA proposes adding questions 
to identify the purchaser of the crude oil on Form EIA-813 Part 6. 
Shipments of crude oil from SPR are anticipated to continue for the 
next several years. EIA needs information on the shipments of crude oil 
to ensure that all of the barrels are accounted for in U.S. and 
regional statistics.
    <bullet> Add collection of stocks on site, stocks in transit by 
water and rail, and storage capacity in PADD 6 including Puerto Rico 
and U.S. Virgin Islands in EIA-813 Parts 3, 5, and 8 respectively. EIA 
is required to account for non-refinery crude oil stocks held in U.S. 
territories.
    <bullet> Discontinue the separate collection in Parts 6 and 7 of In 
operation storage capacity for exclusive use and leased to others. 
These two data elements will be collected together as a single data 
element under the row label In Operation Storage Capacity in Parts 8 
and 9. EIA found that storage capacity data reported separately by 
capacity for exclusive use and capacity leased to others has limited 
utility and should be discontinued.

Form EIA-815

    <bullet> In Part 3, replace the three residual fuel oil sulfur 
categories from:
    [cir] Less than 0.31% by weight,
    [cir] 0.31% by weight to 1% percent by weight,
    [cir] greater than 1% by weight
    to four proposed sulfur categories of:
    1. less than or equal to 1,000 ppm,
    2. greater than 1,000 ppm and less than or equal to 5,000 ppm,
    3. greater than 5,000 ppm and less than or equal to 10,000 ppm, and
    4. Greater than 10,000 ppm.
    The four proposed sulfur categories for residual fuel oil are 
required for consistency with current marine fuel specifications and 
trade statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.
    <bullet> In Part 3, replace biofuel reporting categories identified 
on current surveys as biomass-based diesel fuel, other renewable diesel 
fuel, and other renewable fuels with the new categories biodiesel, 
renewable diesel fuel, renewable heating oil, renewable jet fuel, 
renewable naphtha and gasoline, and other renewable fuels and 
intermediate products. These changes clarify the products and improve 
the utility of U.S. and regional data.
    <bullet> In Part 3 Terminal Activity, discontinue collection of 
stocks of refinery olefins. EIA determined that the collection of data 
on stocks of refinery olefins is no longer needed.
    <bullet> In Part 3 Terminal Activity, discontinue the separate 
reporting of propylene stocks. Add a question in Part 3 to report 
ending stocks of consumer and export grade propane separately from 
propane stored as part of a mix of natural gas liquids and propane that 
does not meet specifications for either consumer or export grade 
propane. This change will help to clarify availability of propane that 
is ready for distribution and delivery to the market and propane that 
requires fractionation or other processing before it can be delivered.
    <bullet> In Part 3, Terminal Activity, discontinue collection of 
data for MTBE, ETBE, and other oxygenates. Stocks and other data for 
MTBE, ETBE, and other fuel oxygenates at refineries and terminals are 
no longer needed for EIA to assess U.S. and regional volumetric 
petroleum supply balances. Production of MTBE, ETBE, and other fuel 
oxygenates will continue to be collected on Form EIA-819.
    <bullet> In Part 3, Terminal Activity, discontinue the separate 
reporting of finished aviation gasoline and aviation gasoline blending 
components. These two categories will be combined. Report finished 
aviation gasoline and aviation gasoline blending components under a 
single product category. Production of aviation gasoline has declined 
over the years. Separate reporting of finished aviation gasoline and 
aviation gasoline blending components has limited utility. Combined 
reporting of aviation gasoline and aviation gasoline blending 
components is adequate to meet EIA data requirements.
    <bullet> In Part 3 Terminal Activity, reconfigure the collection of 
normal butane and isobutane stocks to allow for the reporting of stocks 
of refinery-grade butane as either normal butane or isobutane. 
Refinery-grade butane can either be normal butane or isobutane. The 
reconfigured product list is intended to capture this distinction and 
eliminate confusion that may be caused by the current product list.
    <bullet> In Part 3 Terminal Activity, discontinue collection of the 
subcategories of unfinished oils. The reporting of individual 
unfinished oils products at terminals has limited utility and is often 
difficult for terminal operators to accurately determine.
    <bullet> In Part 3, discontinue collection of ending stocks 
including stocks held on site and stocks in transit by water and rail. 
Add reporting of stocks held on site and stocks in transit by water and 
rail as separate reporting requirements in the facility activity 
section. Current EIA reporting instructions provide for stocks in 
transit by water and rail to be included in ending stocks reported on 
EIA surveys. Examination of stocks data suggests that stocks in transit 
by water and rail are undercounted and can vary between reporting 
periods. The combined reporting of stocks in transit with ending stocks 
also complicates the data validation process for surveys that require 
volumetric balances. Separate reporting of stocks in transit simplifies 
the data processing and validation for surveys that require volumetric 
balances.
    <bullet> EIA proposes to add a new section, Part 4 Petrochemical 
Plant Stocks of Natural Gas Liquids, to collect reporting of the stocks 
of ethane, propane, normal butane, isobutene, and natural gasoline 
natural gas liquids (NGL) held at petrochemical plants, EIA-815. 
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 improves data accuracy and improves market assessments of NGL 
supply availability.
    <bullet> Storage capacity data collected in Part 4 of the current 
form will be collected in a new Part 5 section of the form. Discontinue 
collection of storage capacity twice a year and only collect it once. 
Reporting storage capacity as of September 30th will be discontinued. 
Storage capacity will only be collected once each year as of March 
31st. EIA determined that storage capacity data collected once each 
year (as of March 31st) are adequate for policy analysis and assessing 
market supply conditions.
    <bullet> In Part 5, the column label idle storage capacity is 
changed to temporarily out of service. EIA has found the phrase 
temporarily out of

[[Page 66692]]

service to be more consistent than the term idle when describing 
storage capacity that is not in use at the time of reporting.

Form EIA-816

    <bullet> Add reporting of stocks in transit by water and rail as 
separate reporting requirements in the facility activity section in 
addition to continuing to report Stocks End of Month. Current EIA 
reporting instructions provide for stocks in transit by water and rail 
to be included in ending stocks reported on EIA surveys. Examination of 
stocks data suggests that stocks in transit by water and rail are 
undercounted and can vary between reporting periods. The combined 
reporting of stocks in transit with ending stocks also complicates the 
data validation process for surveys that require volumetric balances. 
Separate reporting of stocks in transit simplifies the data processing 
and validation for surveys that require volumetric balances.
    <bullet> In Part 3 Natural Gas Liquids Activity, add a separate row 
to collect data for condensate. Separate reporting of condensate allows 
EIA to better identify barrels that enter the NGL supply chain and the 
condensate barrels that are more likely to enter the crude oil supply 
chain.
    <bullet> Add a new Part 4 to collect monthly volumes of inlet 
natural gas processed at the plant.
    <bullet> Add a new Part 5 to collect monthly volumes of outlet 
residue gas separated out by methane, ethane, propane, nitrogen, and 
NGLs. The addition of data on inlet and residue natural gas improves 
EIA estimates of the reduction of natural gas supply due to NGL 
extraction. This data also improves market assessments by providing a 
measure of ethane and other NGL quantities that remain in natural gas 
after processing as well as providing an indicator of the heat content 
of marketed natural gas.
    <bullet> Add a new Part 6 Isomerization Activity to collect volumes 
on the input of normal butane used for production of isobutane in 
Section 6.1. Section 6.1a will separately collect the volumes of normal 
butane sourced from natural gas processing plants and refineries. Form 
EIA-816 currently collects data on isomerization of normal butane to 
isobutane. Separating the normal butane sourced from gas plants and 
refineries will allow EIA to more accurately measure butane supply 
availability.

Form EIA-817

    <bullet> In Part 3, replace the three residual fuel oil sulfur 
categories from:
    [cir] Less than 0.31% by weight,
    [cir] 0.31% by weight to 1% percent by weight,
    [cir] greater than 1% by weight
    to four proposed sulfur categories of:
    1. 1,000 ppm sulfur or under,
    2. 1,001 ppm-5,000 ppm sulfur,
    3. 5,001 ppm-10,000 ppm sulfur, and
    4. greater than 10,000 ppm sulfur.
    The four proposed sulfur categories for residual fuel oil are 
required for consistency with current marine fuel specifications and 
trade statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau.
    <bullet> In Part 3, replace biofuel reporting categories identified 
on current surveys as biomass-based diesel fuel, other renewable diesel 
fuels, and other renewable fuels to the proposed categories biodiesel, 
renewable diesel fuel, renewable heating oil, renewable jet fuel, 
renewable naphtha and gasoline, and other renewable fuels and 
intermediate products. These changes clarify the biofuel product 
categories and improve the utility of U.S. and regional data.

Form EIA-819

    <bullet> In Parts 4, 6, 8, and 10, add reporting of stocks held on 
site and stocks in transit by water and rail as separate reporting 
requirement. In addition to continuing to report Stocks End of Month. 
Current EIA reporting instructions provide for stocks in transit by 
water and rail to be included in ending stocks reported on EIA surveys. 
Examination of stocks data suggests that stocks in transit by water and 
rail are undercounted and can vary between reporting periods. The 
combined reporting of stocks in transit with ending stocks also 
complicates the data validation process for surveys that require 
volumetric balances. Separate reporting of stocks in transit simplifies 
the data processing and validation for surveys that require volumetric 
balances.
    <bullet> EIA proposes combining Forms EIA-22M and EIA-819 into a 
single survey under Form EIA-819 to cover all biofuels (including 
renewable fuels not currently tracked on any EIA survey), fuel 
oxygenates (ETBE, MTBE), and non-refinery producers of isooctane. The 
new survey will collect consistent volumetric balance data on petroleum 
and biofuel blending at biofuel production plants and feedstock inputs 
for all biofuels. The proposed new Form EIA-819 will also expand the 
scope of EIA biofuel data collection to include producers of renewable 
diesel fuel and other renewable fuels that are currently out of scope. 
All facilities will report production capacity as well as receipts, 
production, input, shipments, beginning and ending stocks, as well as 
stocks in transit to the facility at the end of the report month. Part 
9 will collect consumption of feedstocks for production of biofuel and 
renewable fuels and annual fuels consumed at the facility. The proposed 
Form EIA-819 is intended to improve accuracy and consistency of biofuel 
and oxygenate production and blending including blending with petroleum 
fuels. EIA will discontinue Form EIA-22M since the same information 
that is currently reported on Form EIA-22M will be collected on the new 
Form EIA-819.
    (5) Annual Estimated Number of Respondents: 4,640 total 
respondents:

EIA-800 consists of 125 respondents
EIA-802 consists of 46 respondents
EIA-803 consists of 80 respondents
EIA-804 consists of 100 respondents
EIA-805 consists of 745 respondents
EIA- 809 consists of 156 respondents
EIA-810 consists of 139 respondents
EIA-812 consists of 100 respondents
EIA-813 consists of 205 respondents
EIA-814 consists of 360 respondents
EIA-815 consists of 1,485 respondents
EIA-816 consists of 600 respondents
EIA-817 consists of 40 respondents
EIA-819 consists of 320 respondents
EIA-820 consists of 139 respondents

    (6) Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: 104,231 total 
responses.
    (7) Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: 208,430 total hours.
    (8) Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: EIA 
estimates that there are no additional costs to respondents associated 
with the surveys other than the costs associated with the burden hours. 
The information collected on the forms is maintained by companies in 
their data systems during their normal course of business. The cost of 
burden hours to the respondents is estimated to $15,427,988 (208,430 
burden hours times $74.02 per hour).
    Comments are invited on whether or not: (a) The proposed collection 
of information is necessary for the proper performance of agency 
functions, including whether the information will have a practical 
utility; (b) EIA's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of 
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions 
used, is accurate; (c) EIA can improve the quality, utility, and 
clarity of the information it will collect; and (d) EIA can minimize 
the burden of the collection of information on respondents, such as 
automated collection techniques or other forms of information 
technology.

    Statutory Authority:  15 U.S.C. 772(b) and 42 U.S.C. 7101 et 
seq.


[[Page 66693]]


    Signed in Washington, DC, on December 6, 2018.
Nanda Srinivasan,
Director, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, U. 
S. Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2018-28062 Filed 12-26-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P


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