Oslo Group on Energy Statistics

The Oslo Group on Energy Statistics is the “city group” established following the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC)’s 37th-session (2006) mandate, convened by Statistics Norway, which also serves as its secretariat [IRES, Ch. I, para. 1.10, para. 1.32, PDF pp. 16, 21, 2018].

Mandate and role

Its task, as recommended by the May 2005 ad hoc expert group convened by UNSD, was to contribute to the development of improved methods and international standards for national official energy statistics [IRES, Ch. I, para. 1.9, PDF p. 16, 2018]. In practice, the Oslo Group concentrated on developing IRES’s overall conceptual framework, as well as data compilation and dissemination strategies, while InterEnerStat focused on harmonizing definitions of energy products and flows [IRES, Ch. I, para. 1.10, PDF p. 16, 2018].

Role in developing IRES

The Oslo Group and InterEnerStat were the key content providers to IRES under their UNSC mandates [IRES, Ch. I, para. 1.32, PDF p. 21, 2018]. The Oslo Group’s 4th and 5th meetings reviewed the draft recommendations as part of the revision process leading to IRES’s adoption [IRES, Ch. I, para. 1.31, PDF p. 21, 2018].

Role in Chapter V

The Oslo Group is credited, alongside the Expert Group on Energy Statistics, with reviewing and supporting InterEnerStat’s energy-flow definitions in IRES Chapter V — production, imports/exports, bunkering, stock changes, transformation, losses, final consumption [IRES, Ch. V, para. 5.9, PDF p. 69, 2018]. The same chapter’s Energy Industries taxonomy (Table 5.1) cross-references those industries against the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic Activities (ISIC).

Guiding principles for IRES

The Oslo Group agreed on five principles to guide IRES’s preparation: (a) prioritize the needs of major user groups; (b) consult closely with national statistical offices, national energy agencies, and relevant international/supranational organizations; (c) ensure recommended data items are backed by generally available data sources, avoid significant added reporting burden, and remain implementable for cross-country comparability; (d) promote an integrated national statistical approach via harmonized concepts, classifications and methods; and (e) defer more practical/technical guidance to the forthcoming Energy Statistics Compilers Manual (ESCM), with the Oslo Group itself deciding what ESCM will cover [IRES, Ch. I, para. 1.34(a)–(e), PDF p. 21, 2018].