Data from the International Energy Agency showing that China surpassed the U.S as the world's largest energy consumer last year are not accurate, a spokesman with China's National Energy Administration said Tuesday.
Data from the International Energy Agency showing that
China
surpassed
the U.S as the world's largest energy consumer last year are not accurate, a
spokesman with
China
's
National Energy Administration said Tuesday.
"By our calculation, the U.S was still the world's largest energy user in
2009 (although)
China
was
the largest primary energy producer," Zeng Yachuan told Dow Jones
Newswires.
The Paris-based IEA, whose forecasts are generally regarded as bellwether
indicators for the energy industry, said
China
consumed a total of 2,252 million metric tons of oil equivalent last year,
about 4% more than the
U.S.
,
which burned through 2,170 million tons of oil equivalent.
The oil-equivalent metric represents all forms of energy consumed, including
crude oil, nuclear, coal, natural gas and renewable sources such as hydroelectric
power.
China
consumed a total of 3,066 million tons of coal equivalent last year, Zeng said.
This is equivalent to around 2,146 million tons of oil equivalent.
Zhou Xi'an, a director with the NEA, also said earlier Tuesday at a press briefing
that "the IEA (energy consumption) data can be used as a reference but are
not very reliable."
He said the IEA still lacked understanding about
China
's
relentless efforts to conserve energy and cut carbon emissions, especially the
country's aggressive expansion in clean energy development.
The IEA, which counts
Japan
and
South
Korea
among its 28 members, on
Tuesday rejected the Chinese government's claims.
"All the relevant sources of statistics indicate that
China
has
surpassed the
United States
to
become the world's largest energy consumer," IEA chief economist Fatih
Birol said.
He added that Chinese energy demand would be even higher if the government had
not made progress in building solar and wind power industries--measures that
are helping to somewhat ease the energy intensity of China's economy.
Birol said the prospects for future Chinese energy demand growth are
"incredibly strong" after the country registered rapid growth the
past decade. On a per capita basis Chinese energy demand is around one-third of
the average of industrialized nations, according to IEA data.
Zhou said
China
had
outpaced the
United States
in
clean energy expansion by hosting the world's largest installed hydropower
capacity and the largest nuclear power capacity under construction.
China
is
also seeing the fastest growth in wind power installed capacity.
This isn't the first time that data from the IEA and the Chinese authorities
have painted different pictures of conditions.
In its latest monthly oil market report, published July 13, the IEA repeated
its frequent criticism of energy statistics published by the Chinese
authorities, in this instance citing "its concerns about Chinese
data" in terms of both quality and comprehensiveness, particularly regarding
independent refining activity and stocks of crude oil and oil products.
It also pointed to what seemed to be inconsistencies between
China
's
gross domestic product and energy use figures, arguing that "if (
China
's)
oil demand data are accurate, this could suggest that GDP readings may be
inflated."
In its December 2009 report, the IEA said that "Chinese apparent demand
data feature some odd trends. The most glaring is the seeming mismatch between
subdued gasoline demand and surging car sales," the IEA said.
The mismatch is probably related to a large degree to incomplete data, such as
a lack of inventory figures and possibly missing or understated estimates from
independent retailers, the agency said at the time.
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