DHAHRAN: The Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI), now covering 95 percent of global crude production and 85 percent of global oil demand, is growing in acceptance and stature with the passage of time. In releasing the November 2008 data, the Riyadh-based International Energy Forum Secretariat emphasizes that the JODI’s enhanced coverage is a concrete outcome of the producer-consumer dialogue, being pursued by the forum.
As per the November data, made public last week, Saudi production went down to 8.6 million bpd from 9.52 million bpd in October 2008. Other OPEC states also had less production than in November, the JODI data said. The UAE produced 2.297 million bpd in November as compared to 2.562 million bpd in October. Kuwait’s production also went down to 2.565 million bpd as compared to 2.679 million bpd in October.
Demand destruction was also getting visible in November, the November data indicates. In the US, the world’s largest consumer, demand went down to 19.263 million bpd in November from 19,645 million bpd in October. The Chinese data also shows considerable decrease from 6.42 million bpd in October 2008 to 5.44 million bpd in November, although while presenting the data, the IEFS noted that the Chinese data for the month could not be assessed properly. Consumption in Japan however, showed a reverse trend in the month of November, going up to 4.851 million bpd from 4.516 million bpd in October.
Stocks levels have in the meantime also shown increases. In the US they went up to 1,013.937 million bpd in November from the October levels of 1,005.736 million bpd. Most other OECD states also showed increment. Chinese stock levels also went up to 8.114 million bpd from the earlier 7.584 million bpd. However, as is evident from Japan’s consumption growth for the month, its stock levels went down in November to 440.063 million bpd from 443.851 million bpd in October. When the JODI was first launched in 2001, the objective was not only to build a reliable database on the energy industry, so very crucial for making future moves within the industry, but also to raise awareness among the member countries the need for more transparency in oil market data. The Riyadh-based IEF Secretariat was assigned the coordination role in 2005 in close cooperation of six major global energy organizations, the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation), Eurostat, IEA (International Energy Agency), OLADE, OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and UNSD (United Nations Statistics Division).
The first priority of the six international organizations supporting JODI was to assess the oil data situation in their respective member countries in order to better qualify and quantify the lack of transparency. The assessment included the collection of monthly oil statistics from each organization’s member countries through a harmonized questionnaire on 42 key oil data points. The just released JODI data proves the success of the initiative.
Staying upbeat about the contribution of JODI toward making the global crude markets further transparent by making the compiled data available to general public, the IEFS Secretary-General Noe Van Hulst praised IEF energy ministers “for delivering on their promise of active participation in JODI to help dampen extreme oil price volatility which hurts investment.”
