EIA Reports

U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
WASHINGTON DC 20585

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 27, 2002

NOTE TO EDITORS:

EIA Considering Timing Change For Release of Weekly Petroleum Data

The American Petroleum Institute (API) recently announced that beginning January 8, 2003, they will release their survey of weekly petroleum supply data at 9:00 a.m., Wednesdays, rather than 5:00 p.m., Tuesdays, as they currently do. One of API’s stated reasons for this change is to coincide with the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) release of weekly petroleum data. But is 9:00 am Wednesday the optimal time to release weekly petroleum supply data?

To help answer this question, EIA would like to determine from users the optimum time for this data release. EIA changed its release time once before in February 1994 when EIA moved its release time from 5:00 pm on Wednesdays to 9:00 am on Wednesdays in order to provide customers access to the data as quickly as possible. However, API changing its release time now provides an opportunity to once again examine what is the optimum time for weekly petroleum data to be released, given the need for quality and timely data to enhance market transparency.

Releasing the data earlier than 9:00 am Wednesdays would reduce the time available for EIA’s internal review and perhaps reduce its quality. Releasing the data later in the day, however, might be advantageous, making it available when both the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) and the International Petroleum Exchange (IPE) in London are open, thus maximizing the visibility and transparency of the data.

EIA plans to solicit comments on the optimum time of day for release of its weekly petroleum data through a Federal Register notice which should be issued by mid-December. A specific proposed time will be included in the notice, although EIA encourages comments on alternative times.

EIA will wait for the public response and EIA’s analysis of these comments before commenting further on this issue.

This Note to Editors was prepared by the Energy Information Administration, the independent statistical and analytical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy. The information contained in the Note should be attributed to the Energy Information Administration and should not be construed as advocating or reflecting any policy position of the Department of Energy or any other organization.

EIA Program Contact: Doug MacIntyre, (202) 586-1831

EIA Press Contact: National Energy Information Center, (202) 586-8800

EIA-2002-16

File Last Modified: November 27, 2002

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