riyadh • Nigeria, Russia and Venezuela are among major oil producers that have yet to fully comply with global oil database JODI, set up to increase transparency in energy markets, its coordinator said yesterday.

Saudi Arabia was among several exporting nations that earned top marks from the Joint Oil Data Initiative (www.jodidata.org) up to June 2006, the International Energy Forum (IEFS) said.

Both producing and consuming countries hope a clear picture of fundamentals may reduce speculation, lower high prices and cut volatility. JODI covers 95 countries which together account for 95 per cent of the world’s oil production and consumption.

Up to June 2006, JODI’s assessment showed Russia, the world’s largest producer, Libya and Nigeria were all poor on timeliness of data submitted.

Venezuela had poor marks for both completeness and timeliness of its data while JODI was unhappy with the completeness of Kazakhstan’s data. “We cannot force countries to provide the statistics,” said Arne Walther, Secretary-General of the Riyadh-based IEFS, JODI’s coordinator.

Political support has helped JODI surpass initial expectations, he said.

“Some countries do not have a tradition of providing statistics, their methods of gathering statistics are lacking. What we are also doing is to educate these countries,” he told Reuters, declining to name them.

Saudi Oil Minister Ali Al Naimi urged JODI’s members to show greater commitment to the database, which was opened to the public a year ago as world leaders called for increased oil market transparency.

The Riyadh meeting will take stock of JODI’s first year and examine proposals by member countries to include oil reserves, in addition to production, consumption and stocks, Walther said.

Some countries are also pressing for the addition of other fossil fuels such as natural gas, he added. “For the moment we are concentrating our efforts on oil.”