| China Disputes IEA Data on Energy Consumption |
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| Written by News TM | |||
| Tuesday, 20 July 2010 09:14 | |||
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"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, Mr. Zeng said. This is equivalent to about 2,146 million tons of oil equivalent. Zhou Xi'an, a director with China's 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. China had outpaced the U.S. 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, Mr. Zhou said. 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. Source-wsj
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SHANGHAI—Data from the International Energy Agency showing that China surpassed the U.S as the world's largest energy consumer last year aren't accurate, a spokesman with China's National Energy Administration said Tuesday.
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