Coinciding with the official suspension on 1 January 2009 of Indonesia's membership of OPEC, the IEA has made some changes to the way it categorises and aggregates OPEC and non-OPEC oil production data in the Oil Market Report (OMR) databases.
This follows feedback from subscribers in the aftermath of earlier OPEC membership changes involving Angola and Ecuador. With effect from the next report and associated MODS data release on 11 February 2009, Indonesian production data will be included in non-OPEC totals for all historical periods and forecasts, and will be correspondingly excluded from OPEC data.
In addition, the IEA has taken the decision to simplify its data series with the aim of removing discontinuities brought about by the periodic accession and departure of individual members from OPEC. Henceforward, primary totals for OPEC oil production will comprise only the current 12 members, namely Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Venezuela.
This will apply to all historical totals as well as to forecasts of gas liquids and non-conventional oil supplies. At the same time, non-OPEC totals and regional sub-totals will be adjusted to exclude all current OPEC members back through the historical time series as well as for the forecast.
A one-line 'memo item' in the database labelled 'OPEC Historical Composition' will comprise production from all OPEC members with membership in force at that point in time. It is hoped that this change will make IEA data both easier to understand and easier to use.