JODI World Database: one year later

The 6th International JODI Conference was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, from 25 to 26 November 2006. The event was organized by the International Energy Forum Secretariat (IEFS) in cooperation with the JODI partners: the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Statistical Office of the European Communities (Eurostat), the International Energy Agency (IEA), the Latin American Energy Organization (OLADE), the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD).

Some 100 participants from more than 30 countries/economies, 10 international organizations and 10 oil companies and institutions attended the conference. In his inaugural address, HE Eng. Ali Ibrahim Al Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Saudi Arabia, emphasized the importance of the Joint Oil Data Initiative in improving oil data transparency, as the lack of accurate, clear energy data is an aggravating factor to the volatility of oil prices. He also stated that the JODI initiative should not be underestimated and that its success depended on the full cooperation and sustained efforts of all participants in the oil market.

The Conference took place one year after the release of the JODI World Database to the public. It gave the participants an opportunity to discuss the progress made and how the database was perceived by users and potential users. On the occasion, the JODI partner organizations presented the findings of a user survey conducted shortly before the Conference. They also released the JODI Manual (which is available for download on the JODI website, www.jodidata.org). The JODI Manual is a training tool designed to disseminate the data transparency message and clarify the definitions and methodologies utilized in the submission of JODI data. It was also announced at the conference that, with effect from its November 2006 update, the JODI World Database has been expanded to include the data for refinery intake and refinery output.

The Conference acknowledged that the achievement of the JODI World Database has been an imperative mechanism in promoting oil data transparency, thus manifesting concrete producer-consumer cooperation. It also acknowledged the ongoing need for improvement, especially with respect to completeness and quality of data. However, all JODI partner organizations resolved that the Initiative must continue to move forward at a steady and sustainable pace.

The participants in the 6th International JODI Conference have identified a list of prioritized actions to be taken to further improve data quality and extend the Initiative. These actions are:

• To continue to improve completeness, timeliness and reliability of the data;
• To work more closely with a wider range of both data providers and users in order to improve the usefulness of the Initiative and the entire database;
• To extend the JODI questionnaire by disaggregating the existing flows and products.
  

In the next few months, the JODI partner organizations will submit to the participating countries/economies an expanded JODI questionnaire with additional flows and products. An exercise will be launched for a trial period to assess how many participating countries/economies are in position to fill in the expanded questionnaire, with the aim of evaluating this exercise at the next JODI conference.

The IEF Secretariat and partner organizations (APEC, EUROSTAT, IEA, OLADE, OPEC and UNSD) are greatly encouraged by the support for JODI expressed by IEF Ministers at the Doha Ministerial in April 2006. More recently, JODI was also highlighted at the G20 Meeting of Ministers and Central Bank Governors in Melbourne a week before the 6th JODI Conference.