4th Meeting of Heads of JODI Partner Organisations

A Meeting of Heads of the JODI Partner Organisations was held on 14 May ahead of the 14th International Energy Forum Ministerial meeting (IEF14). Representatives from seven JODI Partners were present, including HE Abdalla Salem El-Badri, Secretary General, OPEC; HE Maria van der Hoeven, Executive Director, IEA; HE Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli, Secretary General, GECF; and HE Aldo Flores-Quiroga, Secretary General, IEF.

Reviewing progress made on developing and strengthening the Initiative since the IEF13 in Kuwait, the JODI Partners recognised that the task of collecting monthly data from 90+ countries remains a time-consuming and complex endeavour. Nevertheless, they agreed that it was important to capitalise on the momentum created by JODI-Oil to help drive JODI-Gas efforts forward, so as to further enhance global energy market stability in recognition of calls from Energy Ministers around the globe.

In discussing the high levels of interest in and support for JODI expressed by various stakeholders, the possible expansion of the JODI database to cover other energy sources was raised. In this context, some of the Partners emphasised the importance of consolidating progress with JODI-Oil and JODI-Gas, while others encouraged an exploratory assessment of expanding the platform.  All Partners agreed on the need to align Ministers’ expectations with the realities of resource constraints facing all organisations. 

Recognising ease of access to data and communication with stakeholders as being of key importance in satisfying the rising expectations for JODI, Partners deliberated the need for greater visibility and enhanced access to JODI data. On this theme, the IEF’s proposal that repeated requests from specialist data providers to port JODI data through their platforms should be viewed positively was not endorsed by all of the partner organisations. Nevertheless, on the basis that JODI is a transparency initiative it was agreed that the matter was deserving of further review.

IEF plans to launch a new, modernised JODI website incorporating JODI-Gas were welcomed. On a related note, the JODI Partners also agreed to consider ways of increasing the visibility and uptake of JODI including by the simple placement of back-links to www.jodidata.org from the homepages of their own websites.

The Heads of the JODI Partner organisations present expressed appreciation for the progress made by their teams and other JODI stakeholders over the last two years in making JODI-Gas a reality. They also noted that the public launch of the JODI-Gas World Database provided Ministers with a clear example of the potential for successful cooperation among International Organisations in enhancing energy data transparency.

After viewing the promotional video prepared by the IEF for the launch of JODI-Gas, the heads of the JODI Partner organisations concluded the meeting by giving the green light for the official launch of JODI-Gas, which took place during the Special Plenary Session of the IEF14 Ministerial on 16 May.