Department of Energy May 6, 2014 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EIA intends to revise and extend for three years, Form EIA-914 ``Monthly Natural Gas Production Report,'' with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. The revisions include increasing the number of states for which natural gas production will be collected. Gas production has increased dramatically in a few of the states outside the current EIA-914 statesfor example, Pennsylvania and Colorado, both of which now out-produce two of the original EIA-914 areas, New Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico. Much of Colorado's new production is coalbed methane, while Pennsylvania's production is largely from the Marcellus shale formation. While production from unconventional sources has risen, production from more traditional formations has declined, particularly in the Gulf of Mexico and New Mexico, as the emphasis on oil production has increased. Pennsylvania and Colorado are representative of quite a few states that have demonstrated recent, large production increases. Thus, EIA considers it important to expand the number of states for which natural gas production data are collected. Additionally, EIA also proposes to add the collection of crude oil and lease condensate production data at the state level. Oil production in the United States has grown recently and, in some cases, dramatically after a long, gradual decline. However, tight formations have fueled a recent reversal of this trend. As recently as April 2005 North Dakota was the tenth-largest producer of crude oil in the United States with less than 2 percent of U.S. production, but due to developments in the Bakken formation, is now the third-largest producer and accounted for slightly more than 12 percent of U.S. production in November 2013. Similarly, Texas production, which declined for many years, dramatically increased over the last two years as the projects in the Eagle Ford formation came on-line and ramped up. Increased production from tight formations have more than offset natural declines in the Gulf of Mexico, California, Alaska, and elsewhere so that exporting U.S. oil production has become a seriously discussed topic. Further, EIA proposes to collect state-level crude oil and lease condensate production by API gravity category. We think that it's important to collect oil production by API gravity to inform the growing discussion about exporting crude oil. Proponents of exporting argue that there are large amounts of light crude oil presently produced in the United States, too much for U.S. refineries to process. Opponents of exporting argue that there is far less light crude oil being produced. Thus, collecting crude oil production by API gravity categories will inform the debate. The categories have not been determined yet. We expect that the final set of categories will include ``unknown,'' but we don't expect much production reported for this category. Lastly, EIA plans to explore the possibility of collecting sulfur content of U.S. crude oil and lease condensate production (either at the state level, or national level). Categories of sulfur content will be determined once the availability of these data becomes known. Comments are invited on the following issues: (a) Whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical utility; (b) whether the proposed collection of crude oil and lease condensate by API gravity category is consistent with industry record-keeping practices, as well as general comments on potential respondents' ability to provide such information, (c) whether the potential respondents are able to provide a measure of the sulfur content by state, (d) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (e) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, including through the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.