Meeting Summary

Third Workshop on Energy Statistics in the APEC Region
7, 8, 9 September 2004 in Tokyo


The Third Workshop on Energy Statistics in the APEC Region was held on 7, 8 and 9 September 2004 at Hotel Grand Palace in Tokyo organized by the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan and sponsored by The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The workshop was chaired by Mr. Kenichi Matsui, Councillor of the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan and Chair of the APEC Expert Group on Energy Data and Analysis. Representatives from Canada; People's Republic of China; Hong Kong, China; Indonesia; Japan; Malaysia; New Zealand; Papua New Guinea; Philippines; Russia; Chinese Taipei; Thailand; United States of America and Viet Nam attended the workshop. Three representatives of the International Energy Agency (IEA) attended the workshop as observer. A list of participants at the Workshop is provided in Annex 1.
Main discussion items were the quality of APEC Energy Data including Monthly Oil Data, Quarterly Energy Data, Annual Energy Data and CO2 Emission Data and the ways to improve it, assessment on the data quality for the selected member economies, and change in the collection format.

Main discussion items were

  1. Joint Oil Data Initiative
  2. Quarterly Data and CO2 Emission Data
  3. Annual Energy Demand-Supply Data
  4. Other Data
  5. Assessment on the Energy Data Reliability by Selected Member Economies
  6. Assessment on Reliability of Energy Statistics by IEA
  7. Proposal on New APEC Format for Annual Energy Data
  8. Otehr Business
  9. Others

1. Joint Oil Data Initiative
Mr. Jean-Yves Garnier, Head of the Energy Statistics Division of the International Energy Agency made a presentation on the Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI). Mr. Garnier thanked and congratulated the APEC member economies for their active participation in the JODI and asked for their continued support and cooperation.
Mr. Shigeru Kimura of EDMC/IEEJ, the Coordinating Agency (CA), presented the current situation of the Monthly Oil Data Collection and raised the issue of data reliability in terms of timeliness, completeness and accuracy. Mr. Kimura reported that more economies are in the situation to be able to submit M-1 data and several economies are still submitting M-3 or older data. Several economies were also asked to strictly follow the "stock change" definition and also review the large discrepancy in the balance of supply and demand. The participants expressed strong support for the improvement of data submission. Mr. Matsui, for his part, indicated that he would stress the importance of the initiative during the 5th JODI conference in Bali, Indonesia in October 2004 as well as the Energy Working Group meeting in Australia in November 2004.

2. Quarterly Data and CO2 Emission Data
The CA presented the current situation on the quarterly data collection. With a modified reporting format composed of only the supply side, only 10 member economies submitted all quarterly data in 2003. For CO2 emission data, on the other hand, the CA reported that only 8 member economies submitted data in 2002, with several economies experiencing delays in submission while others submitted incomplete data. The participants discussed problems ranging from internal administrative issues to inadequate data. Nevertheless, they agreed to try to comply with the data submission as well as reliability requirements.

3. Annual Energy Demand-Supply Data
The CA reported that with the cooperation of all member economies, the quality of annual data has greatly improved. However, the CA noted that half of the member economies were not able to meet the November 2003 deadline for annual data for 2002. Further, the CA reported specific problems as well as suggestions on how to resolve these problems. The participants expressed cooperation with the CA on the resolution of the issues raised.

4. Other Data
The CA reported that it has collected socio-economic data for the period 1970-2002 from various international sources on behalf of each member economy. As these do not contain data for some member economies, the CA requested that appropriate data be submitted to the CA regularly.
With regard to Energy Price Data, the CA reported that several member economies did not submit the data for 2002. The participants from the concerned economies expressed commitment to submit said data.
With respect to the submission of energy-related indicators, the CA requested cooperation from the member economies.

5. Assessment on the Energy Data Reliability by Selected Member Economies
On this topic, presentations were made by Mr. Wai Hing Li, Energy Efficiency Office, for Hong Kong, China Mr Manuel L Ocampo Department of Energy for the Philippines Mr Juen-Shen Wei, Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs, for Chinese Taipei, and Mr. Vu Quang Hung, Institute for Industry Policy and Strategy, for Vietnam.
They reported on the situation and problems relating to energy data collection, processing and dissemination as well as the efforts/ measures being made to improve the situation in their respective economies. This Session provided a good opportunity for the participants to understand better the situation in terms of data reliability in each member economy.

6. Assessment on Reliability of Energy Statistics by IEA
Ms. Mieke Reece of IEA presented an evaluation of the energy statistics of OECD member countries as well as a comparison of APEC and IEA data submitted by member countries. Ms. Reece offered some reasons for the statistical differences and expressed strong support for the harmonization efforts between APEC and IEA in terms of energy statistics questionnaires.
Mr. Riccardo Quercioli of IEA presented an assessment of reliability of IEA energy statistics of non-OECD countries. Although some problems relating to energy statistics in some countries have been identified, Mr. Quercioli noted that energy statistics of some member economies in the IEA databases have much improved lately. He attributed this to the stronger cooperation between APEC and IEA, among others.

7. Proposal on New APEC Format for Annual Energy Data
Mr. Kimura proposed and explained the new APEC format for Annual Energy Data, which is basically compatible with existing APEC and IEA formats, in order to reflect more accurately the energy supply-demand situation in APEC member economies and to reduce the burden and avoid input errors in filling in the format. It consists of different fixed matrix formats for coal, oil, gas and electricity. Mr. Kimura asked the APEC member economies and IEA to submit their suggestions and comments on the proposal before the end of October 2004 in order for CA to finalize the new formats by the end of November 2004 and to circulate the final version to member economies in early December 2004. The proposed new formats will be presented to the EGEDA meeting in Beijing in March 2005 and once approved by the EGEDA members, these will be used for the 2005-2006 standard run. A suggestion for one-year test run was made and agreed upon for consideration.
Mr. Garnier and Ms. Reece stated that IEA fully supports this harmonization initiative as this would eventually lead to more timely and quality data especially for member economies, which are also IEA members.
The participants and IEA took turns in providing specific comments and suggestions to further enhance the proposed new formats, which include, among others, treatment of natural gas, LNG, mini-hydro and total coal. Mr. Garnier also suggested that the CA develop an electronic questionnaire to facilitate, expedite and validate data submitted by the member economies.

8. Other Business
Mr. Kimura requested the participants to submit their energy statistics and publications to the CA on a regular basis, as these will be very useful to the CA's activities.

9. Others
The participants thanked the IEE, Japan for organizing the Workshop and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Japan for sponsoring the Workshop. Participants noted the value of the Workshop specifically the importance of face-to-face communication. It was an excellent opportunity to discuss and resolve data issues. All participants supported the idea to hold another Workshop next year.