	iea forecasts slower growth in oecd oil demand growth in oil consumption in the western industrialized countries is likely to slow to around one pct this year compared with pct in the international energy agency said oil use in the member countries of the organization for economic cooperation and development oecd increased by around one pct in the first quarter of to mln barrels a day the iea said in its latest monthly report growth in oecd countries is expected to come primarily from transport fuels as was the case in but if average consumer prices are higher than the rate of growth for these fuels may be below last year s pct the iea said assuming  and product prices remain nar current levels some destocking by end users can be expected if that takes place natural gas will also regain some of the market share it lost to heavy fuel in it said iea estimates on april one put oil stocks held in the oecd area at mln tonnes or days of forward consumption this is about the same as at the begining of the year the agency said this flat trend is explained by the projected seasonal consumption decline in the second quarter of the year which offset a reduction in stocks company stocks on land in the oecd rose to mln tonnes on april one this year compared with mln tonnes in calender while governments also built up their strategic stocks to mln tonnes against mln in the year on year trend of government stock building is continuing with company stocks rising more or less in line with consumption after declining for five years iea said oil stocks on land in the united states and canada were put at mln tonnes down from the mln tonnes on january one and equivalent to and days of consumption respectively oil stocks in western europe were mln tonnes down from the mln tonnes on january one but still equivalent to days of consumption the iea said that initial estimates indicate that company stocks fell by mln bpd in oecd countries in the first quarter of the year this followed a small rise in january of bpd but a decline of bpd in february and bpd in march and it is possible that final data will show a larger draw particulary for march it said as  production also fell there is likely to have also been a decline in non reported stocks particularly at sea the iea said world oil supply fell through the first quarter by about two bpd to bpd from bpd in the last quarter of this drop was mostly due to a decline in opec  production to around bpd in february march from bpd in january and to the seasonal drop in exports from centrally planned economies the iea said total opec oil supply totalled bpd in the first quarter of compare with bpd in the last three months of while supply from non opec countries totalled bpd as against bpd in the same period a drop in saudi arabian output to a tentatively forecast bpd in march from bpd in february was the largest factor behind the opec production decline the iea said reuter 
