Improvements Needed in the Department of Energy's Efforts To Develop a Financial Reporting System

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act requires the Department of Energy (DOE) to collect information from oil and gas producers and to submit quarterly reports to the President and the Congress. DOE is developing a comprehensive energy database, entitled the Financial Reporting System, which is to encompass the required data on exploration and production.

There were several concerns about the adequacy of DOE's efforts in developing the database. First, the needs and uses of the data in the proposed data collection form have not been documented. Although some suggestions and advice were obtained, this information did not determine the data in the proposed form. Second, DOE has not developed a data form for small producers who must report information. Third, DOE's plans for collecting information from small producers on a sample basis is inconsistent with the act's provisions which require that data be collected from all producers.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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