Meeting of Heads of JODI Partner Organisations
21 April 2008 | Rome, Italy
Meeting at the 11th IEF Ministerial in Rome, Heads of JODI organisations cooperating in the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI), Mr. Kenishi Matsui, Chairman of APEC-EWG-EGEDA, Mr. Peter Bekx, Director of Business Statistics of the European Commission, Mr. Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the IEA, Mr. Noé van Hulst, Secretary General of the IEF, Mr. Carlos Arturo Florez-Piedrahita, Secretary General of OLADE, Mr. Abdalla El-Badri, Secretary General of OPEC and Mr. Sha Zukang, Under Secretary General of Economics and Social Affairs at the United Nations, expressed satisfaction with progress made since the 10th International Energy Forum Doha, Qatar, April 2006, in improving further the completeness, timeliness and reliability of oil data collected by JODI.
In order to disseminate knowledge and share experiences and best practices on oil data collection among data providers, JODI partner organisations held three regional JODI trainings; in Caracas, (August 2006), in Johannesburg (January 2007) and in Algiers (October 2007). The IEF Secretariat has also initiated short-term internships at its Headquarters in Riyadh for officials in developing countries dealing directly with oil market statistics.
The IEF Secretariat and JODI partner organisations have released a JODI Manual in August 2006, upgraded the JODI website in January 2008 and responded to call by oil statistics users and oil market analysts for more data by releasing refinery intake and throughput data in November 2006 and oil imports and exports data in March 2008.
In November 2006, the 6th International JODI Conference gathered some 100 participants from more than 30 countries, 10 international organisations and 10 oil companies and institutions and offered JODI organisations an opportunity to assess the Initiative progress since the release of the JODI World Database to public in November 2008.
Ministers and Industry leaders gathered in Rome at the 11th International Energy Forum (IEF) and the 3rd International Energy Business Forum (IEBF) and highlighted the role of JODI in helping to achieve a more stable oil market and sound investment planning. They called upon IEF countries to strengthen efforts towards increased transparency of oil data to improve assessment of oil markets conditions.
The lack of accurate, clear and timely oil data is an aggravating factor to the volatility of oil prices. Collective success to date is heavily reliant on data that is submitted by National Administrations, most of which is collected from the oil industry. The Initiative is strong and has great potential but the next step requires more action as well as increased political and material backing. The 7 JODI organisations call on Ministers to reaffirm their commitment to JODI and to ensuring that their administrations are encouraged and empowered to deliver results.
e-mail: jodinfo@iefs.org.sa