The federal government will soon begin collecting more information about the amount of oil and gas pouring out of wells across the United States, with the data likely to drive policy debates in the nation’s capital.
As FuelFix.com reports, the move comes courtesy of the Energy Information Administration, which is expanding its existing “914″ monthly survey, now limited to collecting information about gas production from about 240 producers in five states—including Louisiana—and the Gulf of Mexico. The new version will pull in production data about crude and gas from 19 states and the Gulf, with about twice as many respondents.
EIA just won the Office of Management and Budget’s approval to make the change, with new surveys expected in January and initial data likely to begin flowing next June. The expanded survey also is set to yield data about the type of crudes being harvested in the United States, with oil production being categorized by API gravity, a measure of density.
Those numbers, expected in December 2015, would for the first time shine a light on the amount of ultralight condensate flowing out of U.S. wells, even as oil companies move to export the hydrocarbon. Condensate is typically a gas underground but a liquid at normal pressure, making it less desirable to refineries geared toward heavy crudes.
Oil producers are hoping the new survey will encourage policymakers to ease trade restrictions that block most crude from being sold overseas. Producers’ chief argument for oil exports is their concern that a tidal wave of light, sweet crude will overtake the capacity of the nation’s refiners to process it. Read the full story.
