By Jeslyn Lerh

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Friday on worries about demand growth in 2025, particularly in top crude importer China, putting global oil benchmarks on track to end the week with a drop of almost 3%.

Brent crude futures (BZ=F) fell 33 cents, or 0.45%, to $72.55 a barrel at 0730 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 32 cents, or 0.46%, at $69.06 a barrel.

China’s state refiner Sinopec said in its annual energy projections released on Thursday that China’s crude imports could peak as early as 2025 and that the country’s oil consumption would peak in 2027 as demand for diesel and gasoline weakens.

“The benchmark crude oil prices are in a prolonged consolidation phase as the market heads towards the end of the year weighed down by uncertainty in oil demand growth,” said Emril Jamil, a specialist in LSEG senior research.

He added that OPEC+ would require supply discipline to boost prices and calm the market’s jittery nerves over continued revisions to its outlook for demand growth. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies, collectively known as OPEC+, recently cut their growth forecast for global oil demand in 2024 for the fifth consecutive month.

Meanwhile, the dollar’s rise to a two-year high also weighed on oil prices, after the Federal Reserve signaled 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 rate cuts could slow economic growth and cut demand for oil.

JPMorgan sees the oil market moving from balance in 2024 to a surplus of 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) in 2025, as the bank expects non-OPEC+ supply to rise by 1.8 million bpd in 2025 and for OPEC production to remain at current levels.

In a move that could reduce supply, G7 countries are considering ways to tighten the price cap on Russian oil, such as an outright ban or lowering the price threshold, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

Russia has circumvented the $60-a-barrel cap imposed in 2022 by using its “shadow fleet” of ships, which the EU and UK have targeted with more sanctions in recent days.

(Reporting by Colleen Howe in Beijing and Jeslyn Lerh in Singapore; Editing by Sonali Paul and Muralikumar Anantharaman)