The US Energy Information Administration will require natural gas companies to supply data for a new weekly gas storage report that likely will be unveiled this spring.
EIA said it would take over the report after the American Gas Association announced it was discontinuing its own weekly gas report after the end of the year (OGJ Online, Nov. 3, 2001).
EIA officials said they do not know when the agency will begin issuing the report and urged AGA to continue its survey through the winter heating season ending Mar. 30.
Methodology
AGA has signaled it may work with EIA to ensure there are no lapses in coverage. It also called on EIA to preserve the current methodology of the report, now collected on a voluntary basis.
"Keep the process as simple as possible," said an AGA official.
But EIA officials say they plan to make reporting "more rigorous" and will insist on the same kind of mandatory reporting now required for the agency's weekly oil storage report.
"We want to stay consistent with the way we collect other data," an EIA official said. Agency officials declined to detail what additional data they may seek from companies but stressed it would be kept confidential and would not endanger national security.
