OPEC on Wednesday stuck to its forecast for relatively strong growth in global oil demand in 2024 and said 2025 will see a robust increase in oil use, led by China and the Middle East, in a surprise early prediction.

The 2025 forecast is in line with the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries' view oil use will keep rising for the next two decades, in contrast to bodies such as the International Energy Agency, which predicts it will peak by 2030 as the world shifts to cleaner energy.

OPEC, in a monthly report, said world oil demand will rise by 1.85 million barrels per day in 2025 to 106.21 million bpd. For 2024, OPEC saw demand growth of 2.25 million bpd, unchanged from last month.

Oil prices, though, have started the year on a weak footing as uncertainty in the market about demand has offset the impact of a new round of supply cuts by OPEC and its allies, known as OPEC+. Brent crude on Wednesday was trading around $77 a barrel, down almost 2%.

The 2025 forecast was published on the same day as OPEC Secretary General Haitham Al Ghais published an article, opens new tab disputing that oil demand was near a peak, and reiterated the group's call for continued oil industry investment.

"What is clear is that peak oil demand is not showing up in any reliable and robust short- and medium-term forecasts," he wrote. "It is a challenge to see peak oil demand by the end of the decade, a mere six years away."

（Picture: Veer）