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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 194 (Tuesday, October 7, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 60456-60458]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-23751]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Proposed Agency Information Collection

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

ACTION: Notice and Request for OMB Review and Comment.

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SUMMARY: EIA has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for clearance, under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, for the natural gas survey forms (OMB-1975-0175). EIA requests a 
three-year clearance for the following forms:
     EIA 176, ``Annual Report of Natural and Supplemental Gas 
Supply and Disposition,''
     EIA 191, ``Monthly and Annual Underground Natural Gas 
Storage Report,''
     EIA-757, ``Natural Gas Processing Plant Survey,''
     EIA 857, ``Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and 
Deliveries to Consumers,''
     EIA-910, ``Monthly Natural Gas Marketer Survey,'' and
     EIA-912, ``Weekly Underground Natural Gas Storage 
Report.''
    The proposed data collection will make minor changes to the forms 
and instructions to provide clarity. The number of respondents for EIA-
191, EIA-857 and EIA-757 has been increased to reflect recent survey 
frame research which has identified new respondents. Data 
confidentiality procedures for protecting the identifiability of 
submitted data remain unchanged for all forms with the exception of a 
portion of Form EIA-191. EIA is also proposing a change to the 
published revision policy for Form EIA-912, a Principal Federal 
Economic Indicator. In addition, EIA is proposing specific changes to 
several of the forms; these changes are described in detail in the 
``Supplementary Information'' section below.

DATES: Comments regarding this collection must be received on or before 
November 6, 2014. If you anticipate that you will be submitting 
comments, but find it difficult to do so within the period of time 
allowed by this notice, please advise the DOE Desk Officer at OMB of 
your intention to make a submission as soon as possible. The Desk 
Officer may be telephoned at 202-395-4718 or contacted by email at 
Chad_S_Whiteman@omb.eop.gov.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to the

DOE Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office 
of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10102, 
735 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503, Chad_S_Whiteman@omb.eop.gov. 
and to

Amy Sweeney, U.S. Energy Information Administration, Mail Stop EI-24, 
Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585, 
Amy.Sweeney@eia.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of any forms and instructions should be directed to Ms. Sweeney 
at the address listed above. Also, the draft forms and instructions are 
available on the EIA Web site at http://www.eia.gov/survey/notice/ngdownstreamforms2015.cfm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information collection request 
contains:
    (1) OMB No.: 1975-0175.
    (2) Information Collection Request Title: ``Natural Gas Data 
Collection Program Package.''
    (3) Type of Request: Proposed revision and three-year extension of 
the natural gas surveys.
    (4) Purpose: EIA is proposing the following changes:

(a) Form EIA-176, ``Annual Report of Natural and Supplemental Gas 
Supply and Disposition''

    1. Type of Request: Extension, with changes, of a currently 
approved collection.
    2. Purpose: Form EIA-176, ``Annual Report of Natural and 
Supplemental Gas Supply and Disposition,'' collects data on natural, 
synthetic, and other supplemental gas supplies, disposition, and 
certain revenues by state. The data appear in the EIA publications, 
Monthly Energy Review, Natural Gas Annual, and Natural Gas Monthly. The 
proposed changes include:
     In Part 3, EIA is proposing to collect information on the 
price of compressed natural gas (CNG) for natural gas local 
distribution companies that sell CNG to the public. This information 
will provide information on retail prices of CNG. CNG is a growing 
segment of the natural gas industry that is not represented in EIA's 
natural gas retail price series.
     In Part 4, EIA is proposing to collect data related to 
costs associated with already-reported information on natural gas 
purchased and received at the city gate. EIA collects information on 
costs associated with purchases at the city gate on a monthly basis on 
Form EIA-857 for a sample of companies that report on Form EIA-176. 
However, the monthly city gate purchase information is frequently 
subject to monthly true-ups and having an annual benchmark for city 
gate purchase costs is expected to lead to a more accurate depiction of 
natural gas distributors' cost of natural gas.
     In Part 5, EIA is proposing to collect the capacity of 
liquefied natural gas (LNG) marine terminals to gain a better 
understanding of the extent to which these storage assets are able to 
supply the market during periods of peak natural gas demand.
    3. Estimated Number of Survey Respondents: 2,012 respondents.
    4. Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: The annual number of 
total responses is 2,012.
    5. Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: The annual estimated 
burden is 24,144 hours.
    6. Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: 
Additional costs to respondents are not anticipated beyond costs 
associated with response burden hours.

(b) Form EIA-191, ``Monthly Underground Gas Storage Report''

    1. Type of Request: Extension, with changes, of a currently 
approved collection.
    2. Purpose: Form EIA-191, ``Monthly Underground Gas Storage 
Report,'' collects data on the operations of all active underground 
storage facilities. The data appear in the EIA publications Monthly 
Energy Review, Natural Gas Annual, and Natural Gas Monthly. EIA is 
proposing to make the following changes to the form:
     To reduce reporting burden EIA is proposing to discontinue 
two categories regarding Field Status: ``Depleting'' and ``Other.'' EIA 
will use only two categories, ``Active'' and ``Inactive.'' The category 
``Inactive'' is more descriptive and replaces the Field Status category 
label of ``Abandoned.'' The ``Depleting'' and ``Other'' categories are 
rarely used by reporting companies and collapsing these categories into 
``Inactive'' will not

[[Page 60457]]

cause a loss in data utility, as the same data will still be reported, 
albeit in a single category.
     EIA is proposing to make public reported values for 
monthly base gas levels reported in Part 4. This information will 
enhance the utility of the underground storage information already 
available to the public pertaining to capacity and working gas 
capacity. Additionally, base gas can indicate another potential source 
of supply during times of sustained high demand as there have 
traditionally been some withdrawals of base gas, albeit small amounts, 
late during the heating season. The current confidentiality protection 
covering the other information reported in Part 4, including monthly 
working gas, total gas in storage, and injections and withdrawals into 
storage, will be retained. EIA will continue to publish, in 
disaggregated form, information collected in Part 3 of Form EIA-191, 
including storage field name and type, reservoir name, location, 
working gas and total storage field capacity, and maximum 
deliverability. On its Web site, EIA currently releases this 
information at the field level through its Natural Gas Annual 
Respondent Query System.
    3. Estimated Number of Survey Respondents: There are approximately 
135 respondents. This has been increased from the previous clearance to 
reflect additional storage operators that have been identified via 
survey frame research. The change results in an increase of total 
annual responses and total burden hours as stated below.
    4. Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: The annual estimated 
number of total responses is 1,620.
    5. Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: The annual estimated 
burden is 4,212 hours.
    6. Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: 
Additional costs to respondents are not anticipated beyond costs 
associated with response burden hours.

(c) Form EIA-757, ``Natural Gas Processing Plant Survey''

    1. Type of Request: Extension, with changes, of a currently 
approved collection.
    2. Purpose: Form EIA-757, ``Natural Gas Processing Plant Survey,'' 
collects information on the capacity, status, and operations of natural 
gas processing plants, and monitors constraints of natural gas 
processing plants during periods of supply disruption in areas affected 
by an emergency, such as a hurricane. Schedule A of the EIA-757 is 
collected no more than every three years to collect baseline operating 
and capacity information from all respondents and Schedule B is 
activated as needed and collected from a sample of respondents in 
affected areas as needed. Schedule A was most recently conducted in 
2012 and Schedule B was most recently activated in 2012 for Hurricane 
Isaac with a sample of approximately 20 plants. EIA is proposing to 
continue the collection of the same data elements on Form EIA-757 
Schedules A and B in their present form with the following change:
     EIA is proposing to eliminate two elements from Schedule 
A, annual average total plant capacity and annual average natural gas 
flow at plant inlet, as this information will be duplicative of 
information to be collected on a proposed new survey of natural gas 
processing plants, Form EIA-915, to be submitted under a separate OMB 
Control Number.
    3. Estimated Number of Survey Respondents: Schedule A: 600; 
Schedule B: To be determined based on the number of processing plants 
that are within the proximity of the natural gas supply disruption, 
historically around 20. Note the total number of respondents in 
schedule A has been increased from 500 to 600 due to recent research 
into the number of active natural gas processing plants which has 
yielded new potential respondents. The change results in an increase of 
total annual responses and total burden hours as stated below.
    4. Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: Schedule A is used 
to collect information once every three years. Therefore, the annual 
estimated number of total responses is 200. The number of respondents 
for Schedule B varies from year to year, but the most recent activation 
surveyed approximately 20 respondents.
    5. Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: The annual estimated 
burden for Schedule A is 100 hours. Schedule B is estimated to require 
1.5 hours for each respondent to complete; the number of respondents 
varies but the most recent activation surveyed approximately 20 
respondents, so the estimated burden is 30 hours.
    6. Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: 
Additional costs to respondents are not anticipated beyond costs 
associated with response burden hours.

(d) Form EIA-857, ``Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and 
Deliveries to Consumers''

    1. Type of Request: Extension, with change, of a currently approved 
collection.
    2. Purpose: Form EIA-857, ``Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases 
and Deliveries to Consumers,'' collects data on the quantity and cost 
of natural gas delivered to distribution systems and the quantity and 
revenue of natural gas delivered to end-use consumers by market sector, 
on a monthly basis by state. The data appear in the EIA publications, 
Monthly Energy Review, Natural Gas Annual, and Natural Gas Monthly. EIA 
is proposing the following change:
     EIA is proposing to add a new question to the form that 
asks whether the reporting company is including any adjustments to 
prior periods in their current monthly reporting. Reporting companies 
frequently make adjustments to correct data previously submitted in 
prior periods that skew the current month's reporting and EIA would 
like to propose this mechanism to more easily identify this phenomenon 
and address it proactively with the reporting companies.
    3. Estimated Number of Survey Respondents: 320 respondents each 
month. The number of firms surveyed each month has increased to 320 in 
order to maintain sufficient coverage of the survey variables collected 
on EIA-857. The change results in an increase of total annual responses 
and total burden hours as stated below.
    4. Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: The annual estimated 
number of total responses is 3,840.
    5. Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: The annual estimated 
burden is 13,440 hours.
    6. Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: 
Additional costs to respondents are not anticipated beyond costs 
associated with response burden hours.

(e) Form EIA-910, ``Monthly Natural Gas Marketer Survey''

    1. Type of Request: Extension of a currently approved collection.
    2. Purpose: Form EIA-910, ``Monthly Natural Gas Marketer Survey,'' 
collects information on natural gas sales from marketers in selected 
states that have active customer choice programs. EIA is requesting 
information on the volume and revenue for natural gas commodity sales 
and any receipts for distribution charges and taxes associated with the 
sale of natural gas. EIA is proposing to continue Form EIA-910 in its 
present form with no changes to the elements collected or geographic 
coverage.
    3. Estimated Number of Survey Respondents: There are approximately 
210 respondents each month.
    4. Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: The annual estimated 
number of total responses is 2,520.

[[Page 60458]]

    5. Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: The annual estimated 
burden is 5,040 hours.
    6. Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: 
Additional costs to respondents are not anticipated beyond costs 
associated with response burden hours.

(f) Form EIA-912, ``Weekly Underground Natural Gas Storage Report''

    1. Type of Request: Extension, with changes, of a currently 
approved collection.
    2. Purpose: Form EIA-912, ``Weekly Underground Natural Gas Storage 
Report,'' collects information on weekly inventories of natural gas in 
underground storage facilities and serves as a Principal Federal 
Economic Indicator. The proposed changes include an additional data 
element as well as expanded geographic categories for working gas 
collection and publication in the Lower 48 states:
     Instead of dividing the states into three regions, the 
East, West and Producing Regions, EIA is proposing to collect data in 
five regions by further breaking out the current regions. The states 
currently included in the Producing region will remain unchanged except 
for the removal of New Mexico. The Producing region will now be 
referred to as the South Central region. The South Central region will 
continue to have two subcategories for the different storage 
technologies prevalent in the region, salt and non-salt facilities. 
Four additional regions that further break out the current East and 
West regions will be added in order to enhance the analysis and 
usability of the data. The new geographic regions are defined in the 
following table:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Current EIA-912 regions              Proposed EIA-912 regions
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Producing Region: Alabama,           South Central Region: Alabama,
 Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana,         Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana,
 Mississippi, New Mexico, Oklahoma,   Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas.
 and Texas.
East Region: Connecticut, Delaware,  East Region: Connecticut, Delaware,
 District of Columbia, Florida,       District of Columbia, Florida,
 Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,    Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland,
 Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland,   Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey,
 Maine, Michigan, Missouri,           New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
 Nebraska, New Hampshire, New         Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South
 Jersey, New York, North Carolina,    Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, and
 Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island,    West Virginia.
 South Carolina, Tennessee,
 Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin, and
 West Virginia.
                                     Midwest Region: Illinois, Indiana,
                                      Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan,
                                      Minnesota, Missouri, and
                                      Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
West Region: Arizona, California,    Mountain Region: Arizona, Colorado,
 Colorado, Idaho, Minnesota,          Idaho, Montana, Nebraska, New
 Montana, Nevada, North Dakota,       Mexico, Nevada, North Dakota,
 Oregon, South Dakota, Utah,          South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
 Washington, and Wyoming.
                                     Pacific Region: California, Oregon,
                                      and Washington.
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     EIA is also proposing a new data element, inventory 
adjustments of working gas in storage, to better distinguish when 
adjustments to working gas inventories, such as reclassifications 
between working and base gas, occur. In most instances, this data 
element would not be applicable to the majority of respondents. 
However, when inventory adjustments do occur, they will most easily be 
discerned by being directly reported in a designated portion of the 
form instead of being listed in the comments section. As the primary 
use of the WNGSR's data is the net change in weekly inventory data, 
which serves as a proxy for natural gas flowing into and out of 
underground storage, clearer data on inventory adjustments that can 
obscure the nature of flows into and out of storage will be more easily 
distinguished and published.
     Finally, EIA is proposing two changes to its current 
Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report revision policy. The first proposed 
change would reduce the threshold for published revisions and 
reclassifications between working and base gas from 7 billion cubic 
feet (Bcf) to 4 Bcf. Under the proposed revision policy, revisions will 
be announced in the regularly scheduled release, when the sum of 
reported changes is at least 4 Bcf at either a regional or national 
level. Second, EIA is also proposing to amend the policy addressing the 
unscheduled release of revisions. Under the current policy, an 
unscheduled release of revised data will occur when the cumulative 
effect of respondent submitted data changes or corrections is at least 
10 Bcf for the current or prior report week. Under the proposed policy, 
the unscheduled release of revisions to weekly estimates of working gas 
held in underground storage will occur when the cumulative sum of data 
changes or corrections to working gas and the net change between the 
two most recent report weeks is at least 10 Bcf. The proposed change 
leaves the 10-Bcf threshold, as well as the current out-of-cycle 
release procedures, intact but will further require that the revision 
have an impact of 10 Bcf or more on the reported net change between the 
two most recently reported weekly periods. For example, if one or more 
respondents submits changes totaling 10 Bcf to previously submitted 
data but the changes are the result of errors that have been 
accumulating over several weeks and do not affect flows of working 
natural gas into or out of storage in the most recent two reported 
weekly periods by more than 10 Bcf, the unscheduled data release will 
not occur and the revisions will be published with the next regularly 
scheduled release.
    3. Estimated Number of Survey Respondents: There are approximately 
85 respondents every week.
    4. Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: The annual estimated 
number of total responses is 4,420.
    5. Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: The annual estimated 
burden is 4,420 hours.
    6. Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: 
Additional costs to respondents are not anticipated beyond costs 
associated with response burden hours.

    Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy 
Administration Act of 1974, Public Law 93-275, codified at 15 U.S.C. 
772(b).

    Issued in Washington, DC, September 30, 2014.
Nanda Srinivasan,
Director of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, U. S. 
Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2014-23751 Filed 10-6-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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