By Giulia Petroni

Global oil-demand growth slowed significantly at the end of last year and is expected to weaken further, marking a return to prepandemic trends, according to the International Energy Agency.

The Paris-based organization said Thursday in its monthly report that growth is projected to ease to 1.2 million barrels a day in 2024 from 2.3 million barrels a day last year, taking total demand to an average of 103 million barrels a day. Demand growth for 2024 was previously estimated at 1.1 million barrels a day.

In the fourth quarter of last year, growth slowed to 1.7 million barrels a day from 2.8 million barrels a day in the third quarter, reflecting slowing travel demand in China after a post-pandemic boom, the IEA said.

China is still set to account for almost 60% of global demand growth this year, boosted by the expansion of the petrochemical sector, the IEA said.

Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 18, 2024 04:14 ET (09:14 GMT)