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Notice of Changes to the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report

Released: September 29, 2015

EIA announced important changes to the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (WNGSR) with the addition of new regional breakouts. The new regional breakout enhances the transparency and utility of the WNGSR to better reflect the markets and provide more useful data. For a summary of changes, please review the notice from August 31, 2015 and a list of frequently asked questions.

  • All file formats need to be tested and checked for the new changes. We anticipate coding changes will be needed for customers automatically scraping the data from any of these files.
  • The web address and EIA's Gatekeeper delivery method will remain unchanged.
Dates and procedures for testing the new WNGSR data, particularly for automated data retrieval programs, follow:

Testing schedule

Testing will be conducted under the same conditions as the regular weekly WNGSR release that takes place at 10:30 a.m. on Thursdays. EIA will conduct four tests of the WNGSR through the test site. The test version of WNGSR is located at: http://ir.eia.gov/ngs_test/ngs.html.

Day Date Product Time Test Scenarios
Tuesday October 6, 2015 WNGSR 11:00 a.m. July 24, 2015 data replacing July 17, 2015
Friday October 9, 2015 WNGSR 11:00 a.m. July 31, 2015 data replacing July 24, 2015
Tuesday October 20, 2015 WNGSR 11:00 a.m. August 7, 2015 data replacing July 31, 2015
Friday October 23, 2015 WNGSR 11:00 a.m. August 14, 2015 data replacing August 7, 2015

The four tests will use test data files reflecting time periods in July and August 2015. As each test occurs, the test files will be replaced with data for the next week.

The test data will be automatically released precisely as scheduled above. Robot customers scraping the html, will probably need to make some changes to their code.

If you have any questions prior to or after the test, please contact: gatekeeper@eia.gov.

After tests have concluded, EIA will announce the implementation date for these changes.

Detailed testing instructions

Test directory address: http://ir.eia.gov/ngs_test/ngs.html.

1. Five minutes before the scheduled time on the test day, access the test product with the appropriate URL.

2. After you have accessed the test URL, you will receive a customized "503 Error - Page Temporarily Unavailable" like the one below:

503 - Sorry! This file is temporarily unavailable.

A new version of this file is currently pending release.

This page should automatically refresh to download the new release at 11:00:00 AM (in 56 seconds)
If it does not, click here to manually re-try.

(Estimated time remaining: 56 seconds)



3. Once you receive the 503 error page, do nothing more. The page with the updated data files will automatically refresh at the scheduled release time.

4. Following the test, please email EIA at gatekeeper@eia.gov and let us know if you experienced any problems.

5. If you are not the individual who normally accesses the WNGSR for your organization, please pass this information on to the responsible person. If you have any questions prior to the test, please contact EIA at gatekeeper@eia.gov.

NOTE: Any automated retrieval program that excessively accesses information from EIA's website is prohibited. Excessive robot activity on EIA's website can cause delays and interfere with other customers' timely access to information. EIA is committed to promptly releasing information according to established schedules. EIA retains the right to limit or deny the use of any robotic activity that EIA considers an excessive or malicious practice (for example, robots that access or download information from EIA websites multiple times per second).