At a Glance
- EIA’s Weekly Petroleum Status Report was delayed from 10:30 am to 5 pm.
- The agency lost over 100 of its 350 staff due to DOGE cuts.
- Estimates of savings range from $16 billion to $214 billion, with Democrats citing $21.7 billion in waste.
- Why it matters: The slip exposes ongoing reliability issues in federal reporting and the lasting impact of efficiency-driven cuts.
The Energy Information Administration’s latest slip in publishing its weekly petroleum report has exposed deeper cracks in federal data reliability. A coding error, combined with a Donald Trump-era executive order and years of staff cuts, pushed the release from 10:30 am to 5 pm, after markets closed.
Delayed Petroleum Report
The Weekly Petroleum Status Report was scheduled for 10:30 am on Monday but was postponed until 5 pm. The delay followed a coding error and a shift from its usual Wednesday release to Monday due to an executive order that declared December 24 and 26 federal holidays.
- Scheduled: 10:30 am
- Actual: 5 pm
- Bumped from Wednesday to Monday by executive order
Impact of DOGE Cuts
The DOGE cuts earlier this year reduced the EIA’s workforce from nearly 350 to about 250, leaving the agency shorthanded. The Trump administration projects that the federal workforce will shrink by 300,000 employees by 2025, including the 100 who left the EIA.
| Estimate Type | Amount |
|---|---|
| Savings per DOGE | $214 billion |
| Alternative estimate | $16 billion |
| Congressional Democrats’ waste | $21.7 billion |
The debate over the true cost of DOGE illustrates the uncertainty surrounding federal efficiency reforms.
One source
> “rolling their eyes on how inefficient and unpredictable data has become from the US government.”
Key Takeaways
- The EIA’s delayed report highlights ongoing reliability issues in federal data.
- Staff cuts under DOGE have left the agency severely under-staffed.
- Estimates of savings and waste vary widely, underscoring uncertainty in the policy’s impact.
The delayed release of the Weekly Petroleum Status Report underscores how past efficiency drives continue to affect the credibility of federal data.
