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[Federal Register: January 27, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 17)]
[Notices]               
[Page 4360-4362]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr27ja10-58]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Energy Information Administration

 
Agency Information Collection Activities: Request for Comments 
and Recommendations

AGENCY: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy 
(DOE).

ACTION: Request for General Comments.

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SUMMARY: EIA is seeking general comments on matters described below in 
support of the Energy and Financial Markets Initiative announced on 
September 9, 2009.

DATES: Comments from interested parties are requested to be received by 
close of business on March 29, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to ensure receipt of the comments by the due 
date, submission, preferably as a Word attachment to an e-mail to 
(karen.robinson@eia.doe.gov), or by FAX (202-586-3873). The mailing 
address is Office of Oil and Gas, EI-40, Forrestal Building, U.S. 
Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Ave., SW., Washington, DC 
20585. Alternatively, Karen R. Robinson may be contacted by telephone 
at (202) 586-2585.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information 
should be directed to Karen Robinson at the address listed above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background
II. Current Actions
III. Request for Comments

I. Background

    The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is the statistical 
and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. EIA 
collects, analyzes, and disseminates independent and impartial energy 
information to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and 
public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and 
the environment. EIA is the Nation's premier source of energy 
information and, by law, its data, analyses, and forecasts are 
independent of approval by any other officer or employee of the United 
States Government.
    The Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 as amended, 
specifically 15 U.S.C. 790a, and the DOE Organization Act, specifically 
42 U.S.C. 7135, require EIA to carry out a centralized, comprehensive, 
and unified energy information program. This program collects, 
evaluates, assembles, analyzes, and disseminates information on energy 
resource reserves, production, demand, technology, and related economic 
and statistical information. This information is used to assess the 
adequacy of energy resources to meet near and longer term domestic 
demands and to promote sound policymaking, efficient markets, and 
public understanding of energy and its interaction with the economy and 
the environment.
    The present notice focuses on information needed to support 
analysis and increased understanding of energy markets and does not 
itself propose any new information collection by EIA. The general 
comments received in response to this notice will be considered by the 
agency as it develops a plan of action to fill key information gaps.
    EIA evaluates its activities on an ongoing basis through a variety 
of formal and informal methods. EIA provides opportunities for 
interested parties to shape its functions and practices through its 
annual conference, joint meetings with the American Statistical 
Association, meetings with experts, and other outreach opportunities. 
EIA also tracks its website metrics and formal citations of its data 
and analyses to measure interest in the information it provides.
    The EIA Web site at http://www.eia.gov is the principal method for 
dissemination of its energy industry information. One of the Web site 
pages, http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf.html, provides a list of 
weekly, monthly and annual reports and special analyses, and another 
page, http://www.eia.doe.gov/oss/forms.html, lists over 64 active data 
surveys and forms used to collect these data. During fiscal year 2009, 
EIA Web pages were viewed over 10 million times per month, reflecting 
both searches for information and cataloging of sites by search 
engines. A recent survey indicated that about half of EIA visitors are 
commercial, and many indicate that they use information from EIA and 
other Web sites to meet their needs. Many customers are regular users 
of EIA data; nearly half of the respondents to the survey indicated 
that they visited the Web site weekly or more frequently.
    In recent years, energy markets have developed in ways that were 
not anticipated in the original planning and evolution of EIA's 
information program. In addition to the factors EIA has historically 
tracked, such as production, consumption, inventories, and spare 
capacity, moving forward, EIA is interested in assessing other market 
influences, such as speculation, hedging, investment, interest rates 
and exchange rates. On September 9, 2009, EIA announced an Energy and 
Financial Markets Initiative to improve EIA's responsiveness, in 
particular, to energy market developments (http://www.eia.doe.gov/neic/press/press325.html). Proposed actions were announced in four main 
areas, including identification of critical information on factors 
affecting energy prices and analysis through in-depth studies of energy 
market behavior. Other efforts included coordination with other Federal 
agencies engaged in energy market information collection and analysis 
and outreach to solicit feedback from a broad range of experts on the 
interrelationship of energy and financial markets.
    In its September 2009 announcement, EIA pointed out that it already 
collects significant energy information, but that additional data would 
further improve market transparency. EIA has already proposed to expand 
its collection of commercial oil and refined products storage capacity 
data beginning in early 2010. The Federal Register notice for this 
collection can be found at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-26319.pdf. EIA has moved toward a broader analysis of market factors 
through a characterization of oil and natural gas market volatility in 
the Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO). EIA now calculates an ``implied 
volatility'' for oil and natural gas futures prices using a generally 
accepted mathematical model, as described in the technical report 
accompanying the STEO entitled Energy Price Volatility and Forecast 
Uncertainty (at http://www.eia.doe.gov/[[Page 4361]]emeu/steo/pub/special/2009_sp_05.html). This implied volatility is 
used to generate confidence intervals around futures prices, allowing 
readers to understand the degree of uncertainty surrounding current and 
future expected prices.

II. Current Actions

    EIA is currently considering the state of its statistical data 
collecting and analysis activities, which include:
     Identifying the best data for understanding relationships 
among physical inventories, energy prices, and market activity, as well 
as identifying what other data is important to better understand energy 
price movements.
     Identifying what market data EIA might seek from other 
Federal agencies, including from the Commodity Futures Trading 
Commission (CFTC), and from other sources to analyze the influence of 
futures and related financial market activity on energy prices in the 
context of other energy market factors.
     Providing a comprehensive assessment, over the next year, 
of remaining energy information gaps in physical and financial markets, 
and developing a strategy to fill them.
    EIA is not proposing specific changes in its data collection 
program in this notice.

A. Energy Market Data Needs

    Recent energy price volatility and the international economic 
issues posed by recent financial institution distress have focused 
interest on the interrelations between physical energy markets and 
activities in futures and financial markets. Growth in trade of energy 
commodities has occurred not only on exchanges overseen by the CFTC, 
but increasingly in derivatives traded over-the-counter (OTC) and in 
energy-backed securities, neither of which have been historically 
overseen by the CFTC. During 2009, the CFTC held hearings on the 
effects of OTC trade in energy and other commodities, and Congress has 
considered proposals to change the organization and authorities for 
oversight of such markets. On January 14, 2010, the CFTC approved a 
notice of proposed rulemaking that would establish additional position 
limits on certain energy markets.
    Unlike other Federal entities that currently collect market data, 
including the CFTC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and 
the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), EIA is not a regulatory 
agency. EIA uses the energy information it collects exclusively for 
statistical purposes to understand and assess energy market conditions. 
EIA's role in informing decision makers and the broader public 
regarding energy market developments could be strengthened by the 
availability of current and historical information about these related 
financial market practices.
    In support of the above, EIA is considering the following topics:
     Identifying information associated with energy market 
behavior that is most needed to support analysis and increased 
understanding of energy markets; This might include:
    [cir] Identifying all oil inventories and other physical oil 
assets, including all petroleum-based products and the storage of such 
products in offshore tankers, that are owned by the 50 largest traders 
of oil contracts including derivatives contracts;
    [cir] Other physical market data;
    [cir] Identifying information on energy-related futures and options 
traded on exchanges;
    [cir] Identifying information on behavior in the OTC market for 
physical delivery of energy commodities in spot and term markets;
    [cir] Identifying information on behavior in the OTC market for 
financially-settled swaps, options and other energy derivatives; or
    [cir] Other financial market data.
     Determining the appropriate level of aggregation (ranging 
from transaction-level data to highly aggregated data) and the 
appropriate data frequency.
     To the extent historical information might be important 
for interpreting current market dynamics information, determining the 
historical time period EIA should consider in acquiring additional 
information.
     Determining what would be a useful series of recurring 
data and analysis reports that EIA could produce.

B. Energy Market Data Sources

    Given the public interest in assuring that EIA's information 
collection activities do not impose an undue burden, EIA is presently 
considering whether and to what extent it can obtain data from other 
sources, including:
     Other Federal entities that EIA should incorporate into 
its analyses of energy prices;
     Non-governmental sources that could help EIA and its 
customers better understand, analyze and explain the effects of market 
behavior on energy prices without requiring additional survey data 
collection efforts;
     Other Federal entities or other sources that EIA should 
collect to inform policymakers, market participants, and the public 
about energy market behavior and prices; and
     Information-gathering methods that EIA should use to 
become informed of participants entering or leaving the market(s), in 
order to manage its survey samples.

C. Timing and Frequency of Existing EIA Energy Data Releases

    EIA produces many weekly, monthly, and annual reports on energy 
marketing and operations. In each case, there are time lags between the 
``as of'' date of the information and the publication of the reports. 
The delay arises from the time needed for data collection, verification 
of collected data, follow-up with respondents to make clarifications, 
imputation of missing data, generation of aggregate values from the 
survey sample, and analysis of aggregate data. The total time for any 
given report depends on the effort required to perform these tasks and 
to achieve data quality standards.
    EIA monitors and publishes information regarding adherence to its 
schedules, and has typically achieved a 95 percent or better success 
rate against its schedule. However, a recent EIA customer survey 
indicated that some customers would appreciate acceleration of some 
releases. EIA is considering:
     For energy information already being collected and 
disseminated, an acceleration or increased frequency of existing 
schedules;
     Any consequences to changing time lags in the EIA 
dissemination process given the availability of information from other 
sources, some of which require paid subscriptions; and
     Priorities for EIA in allocating limited resources among 
additional information, more frequent information, and more timely 
information.

D. Specific Types of Crude Oil

    Recently, discussion of energy price behavior has raised several 
specific issues regarding the non-homogeneous nature of oil as a 
commodity. Different types of crude oil are produced in different 
geographical areas, have variations in chemical content, and are 
therefore sold at different prices. For example, the relative supply of 
crudes of different qualities can interact with existing refinery 
capacity, environmental regulations and refinery investment patterns to 
influence prices. When prices of major benchmark crude types, such as 
West Texas Intermediate (WTI), change, prices also change for other 
crudes and, in some cases, financial instruments linked to such 
benchmarks.
    EIA collects crude quality data in regard to import quantities and 
prices, but does not collect or analyze other aspects of the crude oil 
market in terms

[[Page 4362]]

of crude oil quality. Regarding acquisitions, Form EIA-856, ``Monthly 
Foreign Crude Oil Acquisition Report,'' seeks the FOB, landed costs and 
other features of crude oil acquisition, including crude oil type and 
quality. Firms importing 500,000 barrels or more in a reporting month 
are asked to identify the generic crude oil quality stream for each 
purchase, selecting from a list of several hundred options. (See 
Appendix A at http://www.eia.doe.gov/pub/oil_gas/petroleum/survey_forms/eia856i.pdf.) In addition, importers are asked to provide the API 
gravity of specific shipments. Current EIA reports derived from this 
information are typically limited to aggregations by country of origin 
and average prices for different levels of API gravity.
    Customers of EIA analyses might benefit from a more detailed 
treatment of crude quality differentials as a factor affecting market 
dynamics. EIA is therefore considering what, if any, additional types 
of information it should collect, analyze, and disseminate on the 
pricing, landed costs, inventory, and supply levels of different types 
of crude oil.

III. Request for General Comments

    General comments submitted in response to this notice will be 
considered and utilized to develop a plan of action.

    Statutory Authority: Section 52(a) of the Federal Energy 
Administration Act of 1974 as amended, Public Law 94-385, codified 
at 15 U.S.C. 790a.

    Issued in Washington, DC, January 20, 2010.
Howard K. Gruenspecht,
Deputy Administrator, Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2010-1663 Filed 1-26-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
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