The International Energy Annual 2006 presents an overview of key international energy trends for production, consumption, imports, and exports of primary energy commodities in over 220 countries, dependencies, and areas of special sovereignty. Also included are estimates of carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption and flaring of fossil fuels. Other data included are population data, as well as prices for crude oil in selected countries. Renewable energy sources reported in the International Energy Annual 2006 include hydroelectric power, and geothermal, solar, wind, and wood and waste electric power. Also included for the United States are biomass (biofuels, wood, and waste), geothermal, and solar energy not used for electricity generation.

This report is published to keep the public and other interested parties fully informed of primary energy supplies on a global basis. The data presented have been largely derived from published sources. The data have been converted to units of measurement (see Consumption in Standard U.S. Physical Units and Production in Standard U.S. Physical Units) and thermal values (see Consumption in British Thermal Units and Production in British Thermal Units) familiar to the American public.

Important Notes: (1) The Energy Information Administration (EIA) reviews its databases each year and important revisions are made to the time series of individual countries during this review. Therefore, data in the International Energy Annual 2006 may have been substantially revised with respect to previous editions. (2) The methodologies used to impute the gross heat content of hydroelectric, nuclear electric, geothermal electric, solar electric and wood and waste electric, and wind electric power are discussed in the Notes for Table C.7, Notes for Table C.8, Notes for Table C.9, Notes for Table C.10, and Notes for Table C.11, respectively. (3) In this edition, the name of East Timor, in the Asia & Oceania region, has been changed to Timor-Leste (East Timor). (See Geogpaphical and Organizational Definitions for the International Energy Annual 2006.)

Although EIA has mandatory data collection authority for collecting energy information within the United States, it has no authority to require reporting of data from foreign countries. Data for the International Energy Annual must be researched and collected from the most authoritative available sources outside EIA. Because EIA does not have access to the statistical surveys of other countries, it is not able to develop error estimates or revision errors such as might be developed in EIA's domestic surveys.

EIA attempts to identify and collect the best data available for foreign countries. The most authoritative sources are usually the official national statistical reports of a country. However, data from official sources are not always available. Therefore, EIA also uses data from reputable secondary sources such as the the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, the International Energy Agency, the Latin American Energy Organization, the United Nations, and others. In addition, EIA uses industry reports, academic studies, trade publications, and other sources. Typically these sources are less timely and complete than mandatory survey data for the United States collected by EIA. As a result, it usually takes EIA about two years to prepare complete energy information for all foreign countries.

Many factors beyond EIA's control affect the reliability and integrity of foreign country data. These include a country's level of economic development, commitment to statistical programs, openness with information, and other considerations.

Publication of this report is in keeping with responsibilities given the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in Public Law 95-91/Section 205(a) that states:

"The Administrator shall be responsible for carrying out a central, comprehensive, and unified energy data and information program which will collect, evaluate, assemble, analyze, and disseminate data and information...."

Electronic Access and Related International Section of the EIA Web Site

The International Energy Annual 2006 (IEA2006) is available on EIA's web site at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/iea. The IEA2006 on EIA's web site includes text in HTML format and tables available as downloadable spreadsheets, many with data for all countries covered for all of the years 1980-2006.

All of the data contained in the IEA2006, as well as additional and more recent international energy data, as well as international forecasts and analyses, are available on the International Section of EIA's web site. (If you would like to be notified immediately by email of any updates to the annual data, go to the Sign up for email subscriptions page, scroll down to the International Lists Section, and select Annual International Energy Statistics. Then enter your email address at the top of the page and select subscribe.)