Agency Information Collection Extension, 66688-66693 [2018-28062]
Download as PDF
<![CDATA[
66688
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 247 / Thursday, December 27, 2018 / Notices
published in the Federal Register, in
text or PDF. To use PDF you must have
Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is
available free at the site.
You may also access documents of the
Department published in the Federal
Register by using the article search
feature at: www.federalregister.gov.
Specifically, through the advanced
search feature at this site, you can limit
your search to documents published by
the Department.
Dated: December 19, 2018.
Mark Schneider,
Director, Institute of Education Sciences.
[FR Doc. 2018–27933 Filed 12–26–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4000–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
U.S. Energy Information
Administration
Agency Information Collection
Extension
U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA), Department of
Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:
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.
khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES
SUMMARY:
Send written comments to
Michael Conner, Petroleum, Natural
Gas, and Biofuels Statistics, U.S. Energy
Information Administration, Forrestal
ADDRESSES:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:14 Dec 26, 2018
Jkt 247001
Building, U.S. Department of Energy,
1000 Independence Ave. SW, EI–25
Washington, DC 20585. Submission via
email to michael.conner@eia.gov is
recommended.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michael Conner, (202) 586–1795 email
Michael.conner@eia.gov. 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.
PO 00000
Frm 00018
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
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:
Æ Gasoline Not Blended with Ethanol
(E0)
Æ Gasoline Blended with Ethanol up
to E10
Æ Midblend Gasoline with Ethanol >
(E10–E50)
Æ Flex Fuel (E85) Blended with 51%
to 83% Ethanol
Æ Reformulated Blendstock for
Oxygenate Blending (RBOB)
Æ Motor Gasoline Blending
Components
E:\FR\FM\27DEN1.SGM
27DEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 247 / Thursday, December 27, 2018 / Notices
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.
khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES
Form EIA–800
• 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.
• 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
• Discontinue collection of stocks of
refinery olefins. EIA determined that the
collection of weekly data on stocks of
refinery olefins is no longer needed.
• 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
• Discontinue collection of combined
crude oil stocks held in pipelines and
tank farms and replace it with separate
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:14 Dec 26, 2018
Jkt 247001
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.
• 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.
• 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).
• 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
• 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
• Discontinue collection of stocks of
refinery olefins. EIA determined that the
collection of weekly data on stocks of
refinery olefins is no longer needed.
• 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.
• Discontinue collection of data for
Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE),
Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE), and
other oxygenates. Stocks and other data
PO 00000
Frm 00019
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
66689
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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Discontinue separate reporting of
denatured and undenatured fuel
ethanol. Report production and weekending 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
• 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,
E:\FR\FM\27DEN1.SGM
27DEN1
khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES
66690
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 247 / Thursday, December 27, 2018 / Notices
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.
• In Part 6, replace the three current
biofuel reporting categories of biomassbased 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:14 Dec 26, 2018
Jkt 247001
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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Add a new section, Part 6A
Production of Renewable Fuels CoProcessed in the Refinery, to collect
renewable fuels production coprocessed 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.
• 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
• In Part 3, replace the three current
biofuel reporting categories of biomassbased 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.
PO 00000
Frm 00020
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
• Discontinue collection of stocks of
refinery olefins. EIA determined that the
collection of data on stocks of refinery
olefins is no longer needed.
• 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.
• 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
• 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.
• Parts 6 and 7 relating to storage
capacity are re-numbered as Parts 8 and
9 in the new form.
• 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.
• 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.
E:\FR\FM\27DEN1.SGM
27DEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 247 / Thursday, December 27, 2018 / Notices
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 nonrefinery crude oil stocks held in U.S.
territories.
• 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.
khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES
Form EIA–815
• In Part 3, replace the three residual
fuel oil sulfur categories from:
Æ Less than 0.31% by weight,
Æ 0.31% by weight to 1% percent by
weight,
Æ 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,
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:14 Dec 26, 2018
Jkt 247001
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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• In Part 3 Terminal Activity,
reconfigure the collection of normal
butane and isobutane stocks to allow for
PO 00000
Frm 00021
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
66691
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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• In Part 5, the column label idle
storage capacity is changed to
temporarily out of service. EIA has
found the phrase temporarily out of
E:\FR\FM\27DEN1.SGM
27DEN1
66692
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 247 / Thursday, December 27, 2018 / Notices
khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES
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
• 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.
• 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.
• Add a new Part 4 to collect monthly
volumes of inlet natural gas processed at
the plant.
• 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.
• 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
• In Part 3, replace the three residual
fuel oil sulfur categories from:
Æ Less than 0.31% by weight,
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:14 Dec 26, 2018
Jkt 247001
Æ 0.31% by weight to 1% percent by
weight,
Æ 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.
• 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
• 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.
• 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
PO 00000
Frm 00022
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
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.
E:\FR\FM\27DEN1.SGM
27DEN1
Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 247 / Thursday, December 27, 2018 / Notices
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
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
Docket Nos. CP18–102–000;CP18–103–000]
khammond on DSK30JT082PROD with NOTICES
Notice of Availability of the
Environmental Assessment for the
Proposed Cheyenne Connector, LLC
Cheyenne Connector Pipeline and
Rockies Express Pipeline LLC
Cheyenne Hub Enhancement Projects
The staff of the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC or
Commission) has prepared an
environmental assessment (EA) for the
Cheyenne Connector Pipeline Project
and the Cheyenne Hub Enhancement
Project, proposed respectively by
Cheyenne Connector, LLC and Rockies
Express Pipeline LLC (Rockies Express)
in the above-referenced docket. The
applicants request authorization to
construct approximately 71 miles of
new 36-inch-diameter pipeline, five
new meter and regulating stations, and
one new compressor station, as
described further below. All proposed
facilities would be in Weld County,
Colorado.
The EA assesses the potential
environmental effects of the
construction and operation of the
Cheyenne Connector Pipeline and
Cheyenne Hub Enhancement Projects in
accordance with the requirements of the
National Environmental Policy Act
(NEPA). The FERC staff concludes that
approval of the proposed projects, with
appropriate mitigating measures, would
not constitute a major federal action
significantly affecting the quality of the
human environment.
The Cheyenne Connector Pipeline
Project includes the following facilities:
• Approximately 71 miles of 36-inchdiameter pipeline with ancillary
facilities including three mainline
valves; and
• five associated meter and regulating
stations.
The Cheyenne Hub Enhancement
Project includes the following facilities:
• One new approximately 32,100
horsepower compressor station;
• enhancements to modify Rockies
Express’ existing Cheyenne Hub
interconnect facilities, including
VerDate Sep<11>2014
17:14 Dec 26, 2018
Jkt 247001
installation of pipe, valves, fittings,
filters, and ancillary equipment; and
• ancillary facilities constructed at
Rockies Express’ existing Cheyenne Hub
pursuant to 18 CFR 2.55(a), consisting of
station piping, vibration reducing
equipment, compressor and electrical
buildings, valves, and gas cooling
equipment.
The Commission mailed a copy of the
Notice of Availability for the EA to
federal, state, and local government
representatives and agencies; elected
officials; environmental and public
interest groups; Native American tribes;
potentially affected landowners and
other interested individuals and groups;
and newspapers and libraries in the
projects’ areas. The EA is only available
in electronic format. It may be viewed
and downloaded from the FERC’s
website (www.ferc.gov), on the
Environmental Documents page (https://
www.ferc.gov/industries/gas/enviro/
eis.asp). In addition, the EA may be
accessed by using the eLibrary link on
the FERC’s website. Click on the
eLibrary link (https://www.ferc.gov/
docs-filing/elibrary.asp), click on
General Search, and enter the docket
number in the ‘‘Docket Number’’ field,
excluding the last three digits (i.e.,
CP18–102 or CP18–103). Be sure you
have selected an appropriate date range.
For assistance, please contact FERC
Online Support at FercOnlineSupport@
ferc.gov or toll free at (866) 208–3676, or
for TTY, contact (202) 502–8659.
Any person wishing to comment on
the EA may do so. Your comments
should focus on the EA’s disclosure and
discussion of potential environmental
effects, reasonable alternatives, and
measures to avoid or lessen
environmental impacts. The more
specific your comments, the more useful
they will be. To ensure that the
Commission has the opportunity to
consider your comments prior to
making its decision on these projects, it
is important that we receive your
comments in Washington, DC on or
before 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on
January 17, 2019.
For your convenience, there are three
methods you can use to file your
comments to the Commission. The
Commission encourages electronic filing
of comments and has staff available to
assist you at (866) 208–3676 or
FercOnlineSupport@ferc.gov. Please
carefully follow these instructions so
that your comments are properly
recorded.
(1) You can file your comments
electronically using the eComment
feature on the Commission’s website
(www.ferc.gov) under the link to
Documents and Filings. This is an easy
PO 00000
Frm 00023
Fmt 4703
Sfmt 4703
66693
method for submitting brief, text-only
comments on a project;
(2) You can also file your comments
electronically using the eFiling feature
on the Commission’s website
(www.ferc.gov) under the link to
Documents and Filings. With eFiling,
you can provide comments in a variety
of formats by attaching them as a file
with your submission. New eFiling
users must first create an account by
clicking on ‘‘eRegister.’’ You must select
the type of filing you are making. If you
are filing a comment on a particular
project, please select ‘‘Comment on a
Filing’’; or
(3) You can file a paper copy of your
comments by mailing them to the
following address. Be sure to reference
the project docket number (CP18–102–
000 and/or CP18–103–000) with your
submission: Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street NE, Room
1A, Washington, DC 20426.
Any person seeking to become a party
to the proceeding must file a motion to
intervene pursuant to Rule 214 of the
Commission’s Rules of Practice and
Procedures (18 CFR 385.214). Motions
to intervene are more fully described at
https://www.ferc.gov/resources/guides/
how-to/intervene.asp. Only intervenors
have the right to seek rehearing or
judicial review of the Commission’s
decision. The Commission may grant
affected landowners and others with
environmental concerns intervenor
status upon showing good cause by
stating that they have a clear and direct
interest in this proceeding which no
other party can adequately represent.
Simply filing environmental comments
will not give you intervenor status, but
you do not need intervenor status to
have your comments considered.
Additional information about the
project is available from the
Commission’s Office of External Affairs,
at (866) 208–FERC, or on the FERC
website (www.ferc.gov) using the
eLibrary link. The eLibrary link also
provides access to the texts of all formal
documents issued by the Commission,
such as orders, notices, and
rulemakings.
In addition, the Commission offers a
free service called eSubscription which
allows you to keep track of all formal
issuances and submittals in specific
dockets. This can reduce the amount of
time you spend researching proceedings
by automatically providing you with
notification of these filings, document
summaries, and direct links to the
documents. Go to www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/esubscription.asp.
E:\FR\FM\27DEN1.SGM
27DEN1
]]>Agencies
[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]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
michael.conner@eia.gov is recommended.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Conner, (202) 586-1795 email
Michael.conner@eia.gov. 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 (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
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.
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
Discontinue collection of stocks of refinery olefins. EIA
determined that the collection of weekly data on stocks of refinery
olefins is no longer needed.
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
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.
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.
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).
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
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
Discontinue collection of stocks of refinery olefins. EIA
determined that the collection of weekly data on stocks of refinery
olefins is no longer needed.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Discontinue collection of stocks of refinery olefins. EIA
determined that the collection of data on stocks of refinery olefins is
no longer needed.
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.
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
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.
Parts 6 and 7 relating to storage capacity are re-numbered
as Parts 8 and 9 in the new form.
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.
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]]
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
Add a new Part 4 to collect monthly volumes of inlet
natural gas processed at the plant.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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
