1. Roy Kass, Natural Gas Division, EIA March 20, 2002 Reno, Nevada Gasmart Energy Information Administration’s Weekly Storage Survey and Web-based Information Dissemination.

2. 2 AGA Survey History At end of 1993 AGA began a voluntary survey of storage operators with purpose of enhancing information needed for storage operations. Their last report will be May 1. Respondents are 42-43 companies who report storage data for 3 geographic regions. Data are released on Wednesday afternoon of each week, with a delay of one day for some federal holidays.

3. 3 AGA Data Collection AGA data form requests respondent information for 3 items per region (1 region per form): - Working gas volumes for company as of 9 a.m. Friday this week and this week last year - Maximum working gas in company-region reservoirs at any time during 1992-2001

4. 4 EIA Project Schedule 2001-2002 Oct. 12 AGA announces intent to stop weekly survey Oct. 30 Secretary directs EIA to conduct weekly survey Oct.- Dec. Meetings with agencies, industry, data customers, Federal Register Notice Jan. OMB clearance, contractor award Feb.-Mar Sample notification, system building Mar.-Apr. First data due 3/18; data and response work May 8-9 EIA data released, including data for 6-7 earlier weeks

5. 5 Methodological and Operational Issues Estimation methodology and sample selection Editing and imputation Revision of estimates Comparisons with AGA and EIA monthly series Security, release time, and release product

6. 6 Estimation and Sample Selection I Objectives are weekly estimates of working gas in storage for three regions and total U.S. Approach was determined by available resources, time constraint, and customer/respondent desires for minimal change

7. 7 Estimation and Sample Selection II Sampled from monthly EIA-191 responses for October, 2001 within each region, target standard error five percent of estimate. Certainty and noncertainty strata. Probability proportional to size for noncertainty companies Initial sample of 50 companies. Expect to select new panel annually.

8. 8 Estimation and Sample Selection III Estimation formula in each region is where N = all companies that report monthly for that region n = sample size for that region f = companies in region that failed edits or did not report this week WWG = weekly reports of working gas for sample members in region MWG = monthly reports of working gas for companies in region

9. 9 Estimate Revisions We will allow (and encourage) revisions to submitted data of greater than 1 Bcf, especially if: –Errors in earlier reports are found –Reclassification between base and working gas

10. 10 Operational Issues Comparisons between AGA and EIA series Adequacy of response Security equivalent to or more severe than AGA’s

11. 11 Description of EIA and AGA Storage Data EIA will prepare two papers to assist analysts in using and assessing the data –Technical description of the survey and methodology (Mid April) –Comparison of methodologies and presentation of estimates for weeks where both EIA and AGA have collected data (shortly after EIA’s first publication)

12. 12 Comparison: EIA and AGA Storage Data EIA monthly End March: 18% difference AGA weekly

13. 13 April Working Gas: EIA-AGA Estimates

14. 14 Operational Concerns We will be posting the weekly product to EIA’s web site EIA’s site is available to all Internet users Press and wire services are our friend Will not allow fast-repeating robots to conduct “denial of service attacks”

15. 15 Getting EIA’s Information Web-based dissemination –Http://www.eia.doe.gov National Energy Information Center –202-586-8800 –Email infoctr@eia.Doe.Gov

16. 16 Sample Screens from EIA’s web site EIA home page Natural Gas Home Page Natural Gas Data Publications Natural Gas Monthly

17. 17 EIA Home Page www.eia.doe.gov Select Natural Gas

18. 18 Natural Gas Page Look Here For What We Are High- Lighting Publications

19. 19 Publications Page - Top Our data publications through These links. I select “Natural Gas Monthly”

20. 20 Annual Publications Section

21. 21 Natural Gas Monthly (1)

22. 22 Natural Gas Monthly (2) Tables are PDF as Published and Excel With historical data