The Energy Information Administration (EIA) will implement a new version of its Gatekeeper application for the Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report (WNGSR) on April 2, 2009. EIA uses the Gatekeeper application to ensure secure and prompt posting of the WNGSR. Gatekeeper denies customer access to the data area for a brief period before the release time for the new data.

The upgrade to the Gatekeeper application does not reflect EIA's response to comments received as a result of the October 15, 2008, Federal Register notice that requested public input on the process and technologies used for disseminating the WNGSR. The public comment period closed on November 14, 2008. The comments received are currently under review.

The transition to the upgraded version of Gatekeeper for WNGSR should be seamless for all customers. (It is the same version of Gatekeeper that is currently being used for the Weekly Petroleum Status Report.) However, we will provide a test period, and we encourage everyone to participate especially if you currently use an automated retrieval program (commonly referred to as a "robot"). Details of the testing are provided below.

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. The EIA is committed to promptly release information according to established schedules. The 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).

TESTING PROCEDURE

We are providing an opportunity to test the Gatekeeper application to all users of the data. To that end, we are asking all WNGSR customers who would normally access the data at 10:30 a.m. on Thursdays to participate in the test. If you are one of these customers, please attempt to access the test version of WNGSR at the following test directory address: http://www.eia.gov/oil_gas/natural_gas/ngs_test/ngs.html

Please access the data by whatever method you normally use, starting 5 minutes before the scheduled test release time. Accessing the WNGSR site during that time period will result in you receiving a web page displaying a "503 error - Page Temporarily Unavailable," and a message stating that the data will be automatically sent to your PC in "x" number of seconds. ONCE YOU RECEIVE THIS "503 ERROR" PAGE, YOU NEED DO NOTHING FURTHER.

The test file will be automatically delivered to you by the Gatekeeper when it is released at the scheduled test release times listed below. We are confident that those of you who manually access the WNGSR through the use of your browser software will have no problems. For most customers who use robots we expect no problems. For a few of the robotic customers, there may be a need to make some configuration changes to their robot. This test should enable you to make that determination. If you have any questions prior to or after the test, please contact us at: gatekeeper@eia.doe.gov.

We will conduct two tests a week apart and implement approximately two weeks after the last test. We are asking all WNGSR customers to participate in one or both of the upcoming tests. Note that the initial sample file will contain data for December 5, 2008, which was released on December 11. As each test occurs, the test file will be replaced with historical data from the successive week. The historical data should correspond to each test as follows (note that the 'release date' for testing purposes will be automatically listed as 6 days after the historical report week).