(AGI) Rome, Dec 15 - Demand for oil is set to increase both inthe medium and long term, said Secretary General of OPEC,Abdallah Salem El-Badri, in an article that will be publishedin the next issue of Energy, the magazine edited by AlbertoClo'. Mr El-Badri addresses the issue of growth in demand that"over the medium term, 2013-2019, will increase by an averageof 1 million barrels per day a year, reaching a total of 96million" and in the long term, in 2040, to 111 million, with anadditional 21 million compared to 2013. On the supply side,"the so-called call on OPEC - that is, the difference betweenthe world oil demand and the supply of crude oil from non-OPECeconomies that must be met by the Organisation - will remain"largely stable" from now to 2019, while "after 2020, it willbe the OPEC countries that will provide much of the additionalproduction capacity of liquid hydrocarbons by providing anincremental contribution to production of more than 13 millionbarrels a day between 2020 and 2040. By contrast, theadditional non-OPEC volumes are expected to remain flat".Copious investments are needed to meet the increased demand inupstream "in non-OPEC countries, where in the medium term itwill be 'necessary to invest over 300 billion dollars annually.OPEC, for its part, should make an average annual investment of40 billion dollars over the next decade and more than 60billion dollars in the long run," said Mr El-Badri. "Anecessary precondition for this to happen is market stability,without which the investment plans of the companies and thetime necessary for the realisation of the projects and energyprogrammes may be at risk. These considerations have assumedparticular importance as a result of the volatility of crudeoil prices recorded at the end of 2014". A key aspect, to thatend, is to "contain extreme price volatility and excessivespeculation activities, that could jeopardise efforts to ensuremarket stability, a priority both for producers and consumers".The OPEC Secretary concluded saying that "we are experiencing adifficult and challenging period. In this context, thoseworking in the energy world have to make increasingly complexdecisions in terms of project planning, investment and thefuture of the market. This explains why we are continuing torequest constant dialogue between producers and consumers." . .