Eurostat, the Statistical Office of the European Union

Unit E5: Energy

L-2920 Luxembourg

The monthly energy data collections cover the most important energy commodities:

• Crude oil & Petroleum products
• Natural gas
• Solid fuels
• Electricity

For each of the above mentioned commodities the inflowing data are delivered by the reporting countries to Eurostat via separate dedicated questionnaires.

Important note: Renewable energies are not explicitly covered by a separate dedicated monthly questionnaire; only partial information, e.g. on biodiesels or on hydroelectricity, is included in other monthly questionnaires respectively.

Energy statistics is an integral part of the European System of Statistics. Therefore, they rely on classifications and nomenclatures developed in other fields while classifications proper to the Energy statistics are fully harmonised with the classifications used in other fields of the European System of Statistics.

For sector classification: NACE rev. 2 applies.

Country classification: The geonom is used for classifying reporting countries and trading partners.

Classifications, nomenclatures and correspondence tables are available at the Eurostat’s RAMON metadata server.

Monthly energy data cover mainly the supply side (production, trade, stocks) and to a lesser extent the consumption side.

For further detail information on divisions, groups or class please consult the reporting instructions.

Classifications, nomenclatures and correspondence tables are available at the Eurostat’s classification server RAMON

The energy statistics database contains primary and derived information. Each record is characterised by five dimensions:

• Product
• Aggregate (flow)
• Country
• Period
• Indicator

The record contains primary data if the product is primary, aggregate is primary, country is a single country (not an EU or other aggregate) and the indicator is the value in specific units. While the annual primary data is loaded from the questionnaires together with the conversion factors to common units, the monthly energy data are loaded from the questionnaires only in specific units. After loading the data the database performs specific formulae, whose results are treated also as primary data in execution of horizontal and vertical formulas.

The statistical unit is the reporting company or institution. Statistical unit may vary across reporting countries.

Reporting units in energy statistics might be: producers, importers, exporters, distributors, enterprises, local units, establishments or households, etc. 

For detailed information on statistical units, see Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community (Official Journal of the European Communities No L 076, 30/03/1993, p. 1), Section III of 15.03.1993 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community.

Not available.

The monthly energy data collections are currently covering all individual Member States of the European Union, the European Economic Area countries Norway and Iceland [for the moment only monthly electricity data] and the candidate country Turkey.

The monthly energy data are available on-line from January 2008 onwards [with only some exceptions per individual reporting country and questionnaire]. Historical monthly time-series are archived or can be found in older Eurostat publications [paper publications and CDs].

Not Applicable

Basic data are on energy quantities are in fuel specific units:

- oil & petroleum products: kt – kilotons

- natural gas: TJ – terajoules

- electricity: GWh – Gigawatt-hour

- solid fuels: kt – kilotons

The basic energy quantities data are converted to energy units, i.e. in Terajoules (TJ) and Tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) to allow the addition of different nature fuel types. Units are defined in Annex C of Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 on energy statistics. All figures reported are rounded to the nearest whole number.

The data collection refers to calendar monthly periods.

The Energy Statistics Regulation (ESR) [Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 22 October 2008 on energy statistics (Text with EEA relevance), OJ L304, 14.11.2008, p. 1-62] laid down in its Annexes C the scope, units, reported period, frequency, deadline and transmission modalities for the monthly collection of energy statistics.

Annex C covers the so-called M-2 / M-3 data collections, submitted to Eurostat two and respectively three months after the reference month, for the energy commodities solid fuels, electricity, oil & petroleum products and natural gas, In practice, a set of MS-excel questionnaires are to be filled-in and submitted to Eurostat via the SEP (Single Entry Point) using eDAMIS (Electronic Data files Administration and Management Information System) under the respective codified data flows.

Important note as regards the MOS questionnaire: From the reference month of January 2013, a new streamlined questionnaire is to be used for the monthly statistical OIL and NATURAL GAS reporting under the Energy Statistics Regulation; this new questionnaire covers also the monthly reporting of EMERGENCY and COMMERCIAL stocks under the Oil Stocks Directive [COUNCIL DIRECTIVE 2009/119/EC of 14 September 2009 imposing an obligation on Member States to maintain minimum stocks of crude oil and/or petroleum products, OJ L265, 9.10.2009, p. 9-23], as defined in Articles 3,12 &14. Further, from the reference month of January 2013 onwards the deadline for submission of the new streamlined MOS questionnaire [MOS OIL-part and MOS GAS-part] is significantly reduced - from three months after the reference month to only 55 days after the reference month.

Not applicable.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

Confidentiality issues are treated individually with the respective reporting countries.

The share of confidential data in the overall volume of monthly data that are received, treated and disseminated every month is rather small. The confidential monthly data provided by the countries are considered as fictitious "zeros" when handling the questionnaires at Eurostat level; the confidential "real" values are not entered at all into the production environment [only the "fictitious" zeros], and evidently they are also not uploaded to the dissemination environment.

The precise date of data release is disseminated on Eurostat's website (select language and release calendar).

Not available.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Eurobase is updated with monthly energy data at least once a month.

News releases on-line.

Statistics explained and selected statistical info in the Energy Dedicated Section.

The monthly energy data on quantities is published in Eurobase:

http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database

Not available

The Energy dedicated section in Eurostat website contents methodological information and publications.

Several articles in the Statistics Explained section exist for energy domain.

The methodology is described in the Energy Statistics Manual.

The Energy dedicated section in Eurostat website has additional methodological information.

Please consult general quality documentation on energy statistics: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/energy/methodology

Eurostat carries out quality tests, mainly on the coherency of the provided information. In addition, the questionnaires used for data transmission also have built-in coherency test.

Monthly energy data are subject to several validation checks, among which the time series checks, the consistency & completeness checks, plausibility checks, energy transformation efficiency checks and others corresponding to levels 0-3 of the ESS.VIP on validation. Validation on levels 4-5 is not consistently performed. If there are any doubts as regards data quality, Eurostat contacts the Member State to provide necessary justifications or corrections.

The main users of the monthly energy data are other units within Eurostat “Transport”, “International trade”, etc.], other Directorates General of the European Commission [DG ENER, DG MOVE, DG CLIMA, DG TAXUD, etc.], other European Institutions [European Parliament] and Agencies [European Environment Agency, the Energy Community Secretariat], international organisations [the International Energy Agency – IEA, Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries –OPEC, etc.], national authorities, businesses, professional associations [Eurogas, Eurelectric, etc.], news agencies [Reuters, Bloomberg], researchers/academics and other users.

Not available

Not available.

The accuracy of monthly energy data is done by assessing the M-2/M-3 data against the annual data, assuming that the annual data are more accurate than the monthly. This monthly versus annual assessment, takes into account not only the differences observed between the cumulated monthly data and the corresponding annual data, but also compares the trends / growth rates between them.

Eurostat would like to underline that it is fully aware of the complexity of the issues and of the inherent difficulty to reach comprehensive conclusions. A series of known [to a lesser extent] and unknown factors are at the root of the accuracy related real or anticipated shortcomings.

Not available.

Not available.

Data is provided according to Regulation 1099/2008:

M-2 – 55 days after the reference month

M-3 – 3 months after the reference period

Not available.

In the case of natural gas, oil and petroleum products, data is fully comparable due to the use of the Joint Questionnaire:

MOS (Monthly Oil & Natural Gas Statistics) – OIL part

MOS (Monthly Oil & Natural Gas Statistics) – GAS part

Eurostat verifies to the extent possible if the reported data respect the prescribed methodology. The underlying data collection methods are however the responsibility of the Member States. The methodology is harmonised for all EU and OECD countries, including the USA and Japan.

Comparability over time is ensured with a solid methodology harmonised on European and international level.

Until reference year 2010, gross electricity generation reported under hydro comprised electricity generated by hydro (without pumped hydro) and wind.

Not available.

Data are checked in detail for internal consistency/coherence in full cooperation with the countries concerned. Details checks involve the consistency of time series, detection of outliers, efficiency of energy transformation processes and also checks on utilization factors.

Not available.

There is no legally binding data revision policy in place.

Data are updated in case an error would be identified, if a Member State transmits more up-to-date figures or if provisional data are modified into definitive ones.

Data are obtained from the National Administrations competent for energy statistics. Depending on the reporting country and the specific monthly process, the data providers can be:

• National Statistical Institutes
• Ministries
• Energy Agencies
• Professional Associations

Questionnaires in standardized electronic format are collected from the national authorities via data transmission over the Internet. Data files have to be transmitted by the Member States to Eurostat via the Single Entry Point (SEP) following the implementing procedures of eDAMIS (electronic Data files Administration and Management Information System).

Data is collected on monthly basis

National competent authorities collect the data by using surveys, administrative data, association's data, customs data and also by modelling including interpolation and extrapolation. Even estimates are occasionally submitted if real data is not available. The mixture of sources differs between countries.

The validation at the national level is done in a comprehensive manner by using validation checks programmed in the questionnaires. Eurostat further carries out validation for internal consistency of the questionnaires and for time series continuity. The higher level aggregates of the products and flows are calculated and European aggregates are compiled (European Union, Euro area, etc.). Eurostat systematically monitors the incoming monthly data sets. A series of preliminary checks is made, e.g. check if period in the file name matches to the period in the content of the file, check if the previous month has been received / treated before processing the new file, etc. The completeness of the submitted questionnaires (missing sheets, missing data, etc.) is assessed. Other general checks are performed, e.g. check if there are negative values (except stocks changes), check that stocks changes (value and sign) are correct, check that the stocks at the beginning of the month are equal with the stocks at the end of the previous month, check for selected major positions the difference with the same month of the previous year, check for selected representative positions the time series behaviour, the trends, etc. Data set specific checks combined with internal consistency checks, e.g. for MOS-OIL compare Refinery Input to Refinery Output, also provide for coherence and accuracy. If there are any doubts as regards data quality, Eurostat contacts the Member State to provide necessary justifications or corrections.

The energy statistics database contains primary and derived information. Each record is characterised by five dimensions:

• Product
• Aggregate (flow)
• Country
• Period
• Indicator

No weights are applied when calculating higher aggregates of any kind. The European Union aggregate [including all EU Member States] and the variable Euro area aggregate are those which are systematically disseminated for the monthly energy data.

No seasonal adjustment or temperature correction of the energy consumption is applied.

Copyright:
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