Is 'Gold Standard’ for Energy Data in Trouble?

Everyone from energy executives to traders on Wall Street to policymakers across the US depend on accurate, timely information about energy production, consumption, and trends. At the heart of this critical infrastructure sits the US Energy Information Administration (EIA). Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of S&P Global, has called EIA’s data the “gold standard.”

But while the amount and complexity of energy data is growing, federal support for ensuring robust energy data collection is waning. The agency underwent substantial staffing cuts this spring — part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s reductions. After the EIA’s most recent Annual Energy Outlook forecast the growth of renewables, the Department of Energy criticized the findings. 

So how vulnerable is the agency to losing more support from the administration? What’s at stake if EIA cannot retain or recruit people with expertise in not only traditional energy but emerging fields, like critical minerals? And who else stands to lose if the agency that provides national energy data collection and objective analysis falters? 

This week, Bill Loveless speaks to former EIA Administrator Adam Sieminski about the state of play at the EIA and what is at risk if support for the agency continues to erode. 

Adam is a senior advisor to the board at KAPSARC, a non-profit energy, economics, and sustainability think tank in Saudi Arabia, where he earlier served as president. He was the administrator of the EIA from 2012 to 2017. Prior to joining the government, Adam spent years as Deutsche Bank's chief energy economist and integrated oil company analyst. 

Credits: Hosted by Jason Bordoff and Bill Loveless. Produced by Mary Catherine O’Connor, Caroline Pitman, and Kyu Lee. Engineering by Gregory Vilfranc.