International Energy Forum

The International Energy Forum (IEF) is an independent and neutral facilitator of open dialogue on energy with key global oil and gas actors, helping to ensure energy security and transparency. Covering all six continents and accounting for around 90% of global supply and demand for oil and gas, the IEF comprises not only consuming and producing countries of the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), but also Transit States and major players outside of their memberships, including Argentina, China, India, Russia and South Africa.

The IEF coordinates the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI) that brings together eight partner organisations (APEC, Eurostat, GECF, IEA, IEF, OLADE, OPEC, UNSD) working towards increased energy data transparency. The initiative, a concrete outcome of the producer-consumer dialogue, started in 2001 to raise awareness among oil market players about the need for more transparency in oil market data. The original six partners started collecting early key monthly oil data from their member economies and worked towards a world data base now hosted by the IEF. The initiative was later expanded to include natural gas as well.

Each year, the IEA, the IEF and OPEC organize a Symposium on Energy Outlooks as part of a joint work programme. The symposium gathers senior analysts and delegates from oil companies and banks to discuss the IEA World Energy Outlook and OPEC’s World Oil Outlook. This dialogue is leading to greater convergence in the baseline data that underpins IEA and OPEC analyses.