Should the energy balances in the countries be harmonized

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Should the energy balances in the countries be
harmonized ?

• Presentation for discussion
• Ann Christin Bøeng, Statistics Norway

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(No Transcript)
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Why its difficult to compare energy balances made
by the countries

• Several kinds of energy balances Energy accounts
  (follows principles in national accounts) energy
  balances (intention is to follow international
  principles)
• Units Energy units can vary Peta joule, TWh,
  Mtoe, coal equivalents...
• Composition of energy products. Different
  aggregates of energy products in the
  presentation. As LPG (propane/ butane) Gas or oil
  ? Condensate Crude oil or gasoline ?
• Different contents. Solar energy Is difficult to
  calculate and some countries omit it. Energy from
  heat pumps? Steam used as energy in manufacturing
  industries etc.

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Comparison problems continue

• Different methods for treating energy producing
  sectors (ex. calculation of fuel input in blast
  furnaces, and in thermal power plants) Other
  example Energy consumption on oil platforms. In
  Norway, we actually produce electricity from
  natural gas in a large scale in very inefficient
  and polluting power plants, but outside the
  mainland for use in oil extraction. According to
  the energy balance, almost all electricity
  production comes from Hydro, while the energy use
  in oil/gas production is included as natural gas
  only.
• Different conversion factors (the set of average
  energy contents in fuels used when calculating
  from natural units to energy unit)

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International organizations

• Similar difficulties to compare energy statistics
  from different organizations as when comparing
  the countries statistics (different energy units,
  methodologies, aggregates of energy bearers,
  conversion factors, user categories etc)
• In addition Different data sources can be used.
  For OECD countries, the same questionnaires are
  used and discrepancies in the statistics due to
  the use of different figures are not large. For
  non-OECD countries, it can be large differences
  in the statistics, mainly due to different data
  sources and questionnaires.

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Consequences

• When policy makers and researchers use
  international energy data in analyses, their
  results depend on what data source they are using
• A usual question is why the energy figures for a
  country differ in statistics from different
  sources (IEA, BP, UN and the countries
  statistics)
• And what data source is most reliable and best
  to use ?
• How to calculate from one unit to another,
  because countries and organizations presents the
  statistics in different energy units.

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Questions

• Should all countries follow a common standard for
  setting up the energy balance, (in energy units
  and natural units respectively), or is it enough
  to make a good documentation of what they are
  doing?
• Is it only the international organizations job to
  compile and publish comparable energy balances
  for the countries, and in this case, should their
  presentation formats be made more comparable and
  data sources and data processing /revisions more
  coordinated?
• In this matter Looking forward to see results
  from the work in the Inter-secretariat group.