Senior officials from three core OPEC producers—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait—said the cartel’s surprise decision at the weekend to raise its production ceiling again is being fully absorbed by the market, underscoring what they described as unexpectedly strong global demand for crude. UAE Energy Minister Suhail al-Mazrouei told reporters at the OPEC seminar in Vienna that successive OPEC+ supply increases have failed to create a build-up in inventories, adding that “no one is talking about peak oil demand anymore.” The group’s eight voluntary cutters agreed on 5 July to lift output by a further 548,000 barrels a day in August, after adding about 411,000 barrels a day in each of May, June and July. Kuwait Petroleum Corporation chief Shaikh Nawaf Al-Sabah said customer requests and the need to replenish stocks point to a "tighter market" even with the extra barrels. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser projected global demand will climb another 1.2-1.3 million barrels a day over the remainder of 2025, led by U.S. gasoline consumption and Chinese petrochemical use. India’s energy minister separately put the country’s current demand near 5.6 million barrels a day and highlighted stepped-up investment across the energy mix to keep pace. While some analysts warn of a possible glut, OPEC+ ministers signalled they are prepared to sanction a larger increase at their September meeting if the market continues to absorb supplies without pushing inventories higher.