Jodi shines light on the oil market
Everyone likes transparency, but not everyone likes to share data. The IEF is still convinced its Jodi database is the answer
AT A conference sixteen years ago in Riyadh, the International Energy Forum (IEF) came up with a plan. Better data, it hoped, would bring transparency to global oil markets and reduce volatility in prices. The International Energy Agency, Opec, Eurostat and others all agreed, pledging to get their member countries to hand over production, consumption, imports and stocks data - all to be collected in a single publication. By 2002, the Joint Oil Data Initiative (Jodi) was up and running, and 70 countries had joined. The idea was faultless. More transparency in energy markets - Jodi began reporting gas statistics in 2014 - would provide more predictability to consumers and producers alike; and
Also in this section
5 March 2026
Gas is a central pillar of Colombia’s energy system, but declining production poses a significant challenge, and LNG will be increasingly needed as a stopgap. A recent major offshore gas discovery offers hope, but policy improvements are also required, Camilo Morales, secretary general of Naturgas, the Colombian gas association, tells Petroleum Economist
4 March 2026
The continent’s inventories were already depleted before conflict erupted in the Middle East, causing prices to spike ahead of the crucial summer refilling season
4 March 2026
The US president has repeatedly promised to lower gasoline prices, but this ambition conflicts with his parallel aim to increase drilling and could be upended by his war against Iran
4 March 2026
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed following US-Israel strikes and Iran’s retaliatory escalation, Fujairah has become the region’s critical pressure release valve—and is now under serious threat
