Opec expects robust oil demand growth and is not changing its estimates, Secretary General Haitham al-Ghais said on Thursday at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, despite the Middle East conflict and closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
"Despite all the commentary out there that oil demand is declining, we have not registered signs of that yet," al-Ghais said.
"We still see robust demand growth at 1.2mn barrels a day for this year," he said.
He also said that investments in the oil industry should not be affected by "one-off events" that happen anywhere in the world.
"We need to invest well ahead of time to be prepared for the demand that we see in the future," he said.