For years, the IEA has predicted that supplies of crude and other liquid fuels will arc gently upward to keep pace with rising demand, topping 116 million barrels a day by 2030, up from around 87 million barrels a day currently.

The agency is now concerned that aging oil fields and diminished investment mean that companies could struggle to surpass 100 million barrels a day in production over the next two decades, the paper reported.

That view has been echoed by many analysts.

"The market is really structurally tight ... oil demand is not growing that fast but supply is constrained," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.

Some analysts say crude has been boosted in recent days by especially strong demand for diesel in China, where power plants in some areas are running desperately short of coal after last week's earthquake, Kevin Norrish, an analyst with Barclays Capital PLC, said new data from China shows demand for diesel was already rising quickly before the disaster. Chinese diesel imports rose 9.2 percent in April compared to last year, Norrish wrote.

In other Nymex trading Thursday, June heating oil futures rose 5.05 cents to $3.9589 a gallon after earlier rising to a record $4.0153. Heating oil, which is closely related to diesel, is often traded as a proxy for diesel.

June gasoline futures fell 2.45 cents to $3.372 a gallon, and June natural gas futures rose 10 cents to $11.74 per 1,000 cubic feet. The Energy Department said natural gas inventories rose last week by 85 billion cubic feet, in line with analyst estimates.

In London, July Brent crude futures fell 5 cents to $132.65 on the ICE Futures Exchange.