It is my great pleasure to introduce this 55th edition of the Annual Statistical Bulletin (ASB). First published in 1965, the ASB is one of OPEC’s flagship publications. Over the years, it has risen in stature as a go-to resource for industry stakeholders across the value chain.
The wise words of former Hewlett Packard chief executive officer Carly Fiorina go a long way in explaining what we are trying to achieve through this important publication. She said, “The goal is to turn data into information and information into insight.”
So simple, yet so profound. And indeed, policymakers, energy analysts, academics and industry leaders have increasingly come to rely on the insights gleaned from the pages of the ASB as a trusted reference tool for vital data on the global oil and gas industry.
Through the ASB and indeed all of its publications and communications, OPEC is dedicated to enhancing data transparency through wider dissemination of high-quality, timely oil and gas data.This underpins OPEC’s overarching goal of fostering sustainable oil market stability for the benefit of producers, consumers and the global economy.
The ASB provides key statistical data for all of OPEC’s Member Countries — Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Islamic Republic of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. It also provides valuable data related to non-OPEC oil producing countries while presenting data on exports, imports, production, refineries and shipping.
In recent years, we have expanded the distribution channels of the ASB by leveraging new and emerging technologies. In addition to the print edition, we offer a PDF version and an interactive online version that provide historical time-series data going back to 1960. A SmartApp version is also available for iOS and Android devices allowing access to valuable data anywhere, any time.
The publication of this year’s ASB was only made possible through many hours of intense and detailed work put forth by OPEC’s Data Services Department in close collaboration with our Member Countries. These efforts have once again yielded fruit in a publication that is of the highest quality and timeliness, thereby providing great value to its readership. I would like to congratulate the staff at the OPEC Secretariat and our counterparts in the Member Countries for once again achieving an excellent product of which we can all be proud.