SECTION 3. INFLATION

ADJUSTMENT FACTOR AND REFERENCE PRICE

.1 Inflation Adjustment . The inflation adjustment factor under § 45I(b)(2)(B) for calendar year 2023 is 1.4993.

.2 Reference Price . The Secretary’s estimate of the calendar year 2022 annual average wellhead price per Mcf for all domestic natural gas under § 45I(b)(2) (C)(ii) was calculated by applying the Producer Price Index commodity index for “Natural Gas from the Wellhead” (WPU053101051) ¹ published by the

1 https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/srgate . The BLS publishes indexes and not actual or average prices.

Bulletin No. 2023–34 563 August 21, 2023

Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) as part of its Producer Price Index program, to the 2021 annual average wellhead price ($3.43) published in Notice 2023-41, 2023-23 I.R.B. 905. The annual Producer Price Index commodity index for natural gas published by the BLS was 106.8 in 2021 and 173.206 in 2022, which implies a ratio of 2022 to 2021 average wellhead prices of 1.622 (173.206/106.801). Therefore, the Secretary’s estimate of the calendar year 2022 annual average wellhead price per Mcf for all domestic natural gas is $5.57 per Mcf (1.622 × $3.43 per Mcf). The one cent difference is due to rounding.

For years after 2022, the Secretary intends to continue calculating the reference price by application of the Producer Price Index commodity index for “Natural Gas from the Wellhead” (WPU053101051) published by the BLS to the previous year’s reference price.