The first publication will focus on September data, which must be submitted to EIA by Oct. 20. This storage data will be collected twice a year – in March and September.
The data collected will help improve market transparency and help EIA to more effectively analyze the oil market.
Inventories are an important source of supply in meeting regional and local demand.
Industry treats inventories strategically as an economic means of helping to meet their market requirements and opportunities.
Furthermore, as regulatory requirements change, there is a need to monitor whether or not capacity to store both crude oil and products is being either temporarily or permanently idled.
The first collection of storage capacities, which began earlier this year, was delayed until June because EIA did not receive approval from the Office of Management and Budget until late April.
However, this first collection helped EIA to work out reporting issues with the respondents and any validation/quality assurance issues it may have with the new reported data.
EIA will not publish the June data collection. EIA is still working on the fine details of which data to publish, but it will focus on only U.S. and PADD level data for working and shell storage
capacity.

FINALIZING DETAILS

This information would be available by industry segments such as refiners, terminals and pipelines.
Storage capacity reported on EIA surveys will include aboveground and underground storage for only those facilities, and tanks for which inventory levels are currently reported on the surveys.
Therefore, bonded storage capacity and storage capacity in secondary and tertiary sectors will be excluded.
The data will cover tanks in operations, idle and total volume.
Products covered in the survey include crude oil, fuel ethanol, natural gas plant liquids and liquefied refinery gases (including mixes and pentanes plus), propane, propylene, motor gasoline, gasoline blending components, distillate fuel oil, kerosene, jet fuel, residual fuel oil, asphalt, road oil, and other
products.
Terminals operators are requested to provide information on whether tank storage is used exclusively by the reporting company or whether tanks may be used by other companies and whether any tanks at the terminal are used for
transshipment of products by pipeline or other modes of transportation.
For crude, the survey includes data for working and shell capacities for Cushing, Okla.
Storage capacity will only be collected for tank farms facilities. Storage in pipelines and on leases will be excluded.
Information is also being requested on whether tank storage is used exclusively by the reporting company or whether tanks may be used by other companies.
Dissemination plans for the first publication should be finalized by end of September.
OPIS notes that the new storage data should help provide an official number to the available capacities in the U.S.
Without an official data, the market is often left to speculate the available storage capacities as the storage market continues to prove to be a high-growth segment in the oil industry.
Terminal sources said that the near-record high crude inventory at Cushing, Okla., was in no danger of hitting tank-top anytime soon, with a cushion of another 10 million bbl estimated. The maximum capacity of crude storage at Cushing, Okla, has increased significantly in the past year, and between 8-10 million bbl worth of new capacities will come onstream over the next few years.
Total pumpable capacity at Cushing was raised to around 42-43 million bbl from an estimated volume of 35-39 million bbl a year ago.