The International Energy Agency and other international organisations

Key international organisations with an energy interest include:

• G8 and G20 – these are important for reaching agreements with the largest economies of the world, all of which are significant energy consumers and many are also significant energy producers. The UK is an active participant in both the G8 and G20.
• EU – this has a key role to play in promoting secure energy markets within its borders and encouraging production and supply of energy from external key countries.
• International Energy Agency (IEA) – this is the pre-eminent international energy consumer body, with 28 members all from the OECD (these are 20 EU members, USA, Japan, South Korea, Norway, New Zealand, Australia, Turkey, and Switzerland). Its key functions relate to emergency oil response mechanisms, the provision of authoritative energy market analysis, and promoting the development and deployment of low-carbon and energy-efficient technologies.
• International Energy Forum (IEF) – the IEF’s function is to enable consumer-producer energy dialogue and co-ordinate the Joint Oil Data initiative (JODI), which aims to increase oil market transparency by putting data on flows into the public domain. It represents more than 90% of global oil and gas supply and demand, and is the only major international energy institution to do so.
• Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) – this provides a legal framework for the protection of foreign investments, the trade and transit of energy and a dispute resolution mechanism for its 51 members (largely but not exclusively from Eurasia).
• Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) – membership consists of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. As such, it represents approximately two-thirds of proven global oil reserves and around a third of production. Its role is to co-ordinate the policies of its members and operate production quotas.
• Gas Exporting Countries’ Forum (GECF) – this aims to increase the level of co-operation between major gas-exporting countries and promote dialogue with consumers. Its membership includes Algeria, Bolivia, Brunei, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Indonesia, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.