PARIS, Aug 10: The International Energy Agency (IEA) on Friday called on Opec nations to increase production to cope with an expected surge in winter demand in the northern hemisphere.

The IEA said in its monthly report that the main oil producers would have to release an extra 2.5 million barrels a day in the final quarter to keep up with higher than expected global demand.

IAE principal analyst Lawrence Eagles said there would be a “supply deficit” in the third quarter and Opec’s reluctance to increase production would hit supplies at the end of the year.

“Demand increases in the third quarter, particularly in August ... and Opec is still restraining output, so we’re in a situation where we’re likely to see a supply deficit and a stock draw,” he told AFP.

Opec countries are to meet in Vienna in September to make a decision about whether to change their output quota, but members have insisted that the oil market is well supplied.

The IEA, which monitors the energy interests of the industrialised nations, predicted that stocks of crude oil in the United States would continue to fall after dramatic declines in recent weeks.

The monthly report said that demand for oil from members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) nations would increase by 0.6 per cent to 49.5 million barrels a day in 2007 and by 1.7 per cent to 50.3 million barrels next year.—AFP