Colleen Howe
BEIJING (Reuters) – Oil prices fell in early trade on Friday on concerns about demand growth in 2025, especially in top crude importer China, causing the global oil benchmark to end the week down more than 2%.
Brent crude oil futures fell 31 cents, or 0.43%, to $72.57 a barrel as of 0139 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures fell 26 cents, or 0.26%, to $69.12 a barrel.
China’s state-run refiner Sinopec said in its annual energy outlook released on Thursday that China’s imports could peak as soon as 2025 as demand for diesel and gasoline weakens, while China’s oil consumption will peak in 2027.
The dollar’s climb to a two-year high also weighed on oil prices after the Federal Reserve said it would be cautious about cutting interest rates in 2025.
A stronger dollar makes oil more expensive for holders of other currencies, while a slower pace of interest rate cuts could dampen economic growth and cut oil demand.
JP Morgan expects the oil market to shift from a balance in 2024 to a surplus of 1.2 million barrels per day in 2025. The bank predicts that non-OPEC+ output will increase by 1.8 million barrels per day in 2025, while OPEC production will remain unchanged. at current levels.
G7 countries are considering measures to tighten price caps on Russian oil, such as an outright ban or lowering the price threshold, a move that could reduce supply, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. Russia has used its “shadow fleet” to circumvent a $60 per barrel cap imposed in 2022, and the EU and Britain have imposed further sanctions on the ships in recent days.
(Reporting by Colleen Howe; Editing by Sonali Paul)
