IRES Chapter VI — Statistical Units and Data Items

Chapter VI (PDF pp. 84–99) describes the statistical units used to compile energy statistics, and provides a reference list of data items to collect from them, in order to help countries organize data collection and maximize comparability with other economic statistics [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.1, PDF p. 84, 2018].

This digest covers the full chapter, ingested in two passes: Pass 1 covered Section A (introduction), Section B (statistical units) and Section C.1 (characteristics of statistical units) — paras 6.1–6.37, PDF pp. 84–90. Pass 2 covers Sections C.2–C.5 (data items on flows/stocks, capacity, economic performance, and mineral and energy resources) — paras 6.38–6.93, PDF pp. 91–99.

A. Introduction (paras 6.1–6.3)

States the chapter’s twin aims: describe the statistical units for which energy statistics are ultimately compiled, and provide a reference list of data items to collect from them, supporting comparability with other official statistics [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.1, PDF p. 84, 2018]. Most data-item definitions are governed by the product definitions of Chapter III and the flow definitions of Chapter V and are not reproduced here, except where further elaboration is needed [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.2, PDF p. 84, 2018].

The reference list of data items presented in the chapter is not a mandatory checklist: it is recommended that countries use it to select data items suited to their own circumstances, respondent load and available resources, choosing a selection that allows an adequate assessment of the country’s energy situation, reflects the country’s main energy flows, and enables, at minimum, the compilation of an aggregated energy balance. The compilation of energy statistics is recognized as a complex process involving both direct data collection by energy statisticians and the re-use of data collected via other national statistics (enterprise, foreign trade, price, household statistics, and administrative sources); the agency responsible for the national energy statistics programme should assemble these various sources into a coherent data set matching user expectations [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.3, PDF p. 84, 2018] — recommendations tracker row VI/6.3.

B. Statistical units (paras 6.4–6.22)

Full detail on Statistical Units. In summary: statistical units split into observation units (able to report their own data) and analytical units (statistician-constructed splits/combinations of observation units), with countries encouraged to use analytical units as necessary and feasible [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.5, PDF p. 85, 2018] — recommendations tracker row VI/6.5. Five statistical units are defined: enterprise, establishment, kind-of-activity unit (KAU), unit of homogeneous production (UHP — explicitly cross-referencing the autoproducer definition of para. 5.45), and household [IRES, Ch. VI, paras 6.6–6.12, PDF pp. 85–86, 2018]. It is recommended that large, multi-activity enterprises be broken up into establishments where meaningful, more homogeneous energy data can be compiled [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.9, PDF p. 85, 2018] — recommendations tracker row VI/6.9. A four-company oil corporation example (Figure 6.1) works through how each unit type applies across eight geographically distinct sites [IRES, Ch. VI, paras 6.13–6.20, PDF pp. 86–88, 2018]. The chapter recommends the establishment (and, for households, the household) as the statistical unit for energy statistics, with the enterprise as an acceptable alternative [IRES, Ch. VI, paras 6.21–6.22, PDF p. 88, 2018] — recommendations tracker row VI/6.21.

C.1 Characteristics of statistical units (paras 6.23–6.37)

Full detail on Statistical Unit Characteristics. Section C opens the chapter’s five-part reference list of data items (unit characteristics; flows/stocks; capacity; economic performance; mineral and energy resources) [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.23, PDF p. 89, 2018]. Part (i), covered in this pass, lists seven characteristics of statistical units — identification code, location, kind of activity (based on ISIC Rev. 4, para. 6.30), period of operation, type of economic organization, type of legal organization and ownership, and size [IRES, Ch. VI, paras 6.24–6.37, Table, PDF pp. 88–91, 2018].

C.2 Data items on energy flows and stock levels (paras 6.38–6.61)

Full detail on Data Items on Energy Flows and Stocks. This part of the reference list splits into data items common to all energy products — a 12-item table (production through non-energy use) that templates directly over the nine energy-flow definitions of Chapter V — and data items specific to a product group: underground/surface coal and peat production; natural gas production disaggregation (associated, non-associated, colliery/coal seam gas) plus extraction losses (flaring, venting, reinjection); oil backflows, refinery intake and refinery losses, and direct use; and, for electricity and heat, gross vs. net production and a computed “own use” data item (the difference between gross and net production — distinct from the energy industries own use (EIOU) flow concept) [IRES, Ch. VI, paras 6.38–6.61, PDF pp. 91–94, 2018].

C.3 Data items on production, storage and transmission capacity (paras 6.62–6.72)

Full detail on Production, Storage and Transmission Capacity. Covers natural gas storage (peak output, storage-facility identification, three storage types — depleted fields, aquifers, salt cavities — and working capacity net of cushion gas), oil refinery capacity, biofuel plant capacity, and electricity/heat plant capacity (net maximum electrical capacity, peak load demand, available capacity at time of peak, and date/time of peak load occurrence) [IRES, Ch. VI, paras 6.62–6.72, PDF pp. 94–96, 2018].

C.4 Data items for assessment of economic performance (paras 6.73–6.87)

Full detail on Economic Performance Data Items. These 14 data items are closely linked to SNA 2008’s concepts and methods, with further reference and detail provided by the International Recommendations for Industrial Statistics 2008 [IRES, Ch. VI, paras 6.73–6.74, PDF p. 96, 2018]. Covers consumer/import/export prices and the producers’-price/basic-price derivation chain, with an encouragement to compile information on price components [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.75, PDF pp. 96–97, 2018] — recommendations tracker row VI/6.75; taxes and subsidies, with a recommendation to use national tax names/descriptions in questionnaires [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.78, PDF p. 97, 2018] — recommendations tracker row VI/6.78; gross output at basic prices, with a recommendation to value establishment output at basic prices [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.84, PDF p. 97, 2018] — recommendations tracker row VI/6.84; and employment and gross fixed capital formation [IRES, Ch. VI, paras 6.86–6.87, PDF pp. 97–98, 2018].

C.5 Data items on mineral and energy resources (paras 6.88–6.93)

Full detail on Mineral and Energy Resources. This final part of the reference list is explicitly based on the work carried out in preparing SEEA-Energy [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.88, PDF p. 98, 2018]. Table 6.1 lists the four mineral and energy resource types relevant to energy statistics (oil, natural gas, coal and peat, uranium and other nuclear fuels), a subset of the SEEA Central Framework’s resources [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.89, Table 6.1, PDF p. 98, 2018]. Table 6.2 categorizes these resources into three commercial-recoverability classes, derived by grouping the United Nations Framework Classification for Fossil Energy and Mineral Reserves and Resources (UNFC 2009)’s three-dimensional detailed categories [IRES, Ch. VI, para. 6.90, Table 6.2, PDF p. 98, 2018]. The section closes with the opening/closing resource-stock data items, generally estimated by geological institutes rather than collected directly by the statistical agency [IRES, Ch. VI, paras 6.91–6.93, PDF pp. 98–99, 2018].

Page map

Section	Page
B — statistical-unit definitions, illustrative example, recommendation	Statistical Units
C.1 — statistical-unit characteristics	Statistical Unit Characteristics
C.2 — data items on energy flows and stocks	Data Items on Energy Flows and Stocks
C.3 — production, storage and transmission capacity	Production, Storage and Transmission Capacity
C.4 — economic performance data items	Economic Performance Data Items
C.5 — mineral and energy resources	Mineral and Energy Resources
ISIC Rev. 4 (as used for the kind-of-activity characteristic and the illustrative example)	International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities
SNA 2008 (as used for the household definition and the C.4 price/output concepts)	System of National Accounts
SEEA-Energy (as the basis of Tables 6.1–6.2)	System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Energy
UNFC 2009 (as the classification scheme behind Table 6.2)	United Nations Framework Classification for Fossil Energy and Mineral Reserves and Resources
International Recommendations for Industrial Statistics (pointer-of-record for C.4)	International Recommendations for Industrial Statistics

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