LONDON: The International Energy Agency (IEA) kept its 2024 global oil demand growth forecast unchanged on Tuesday but trimmed its 2025 estimate, citing the impact of Chinese consumption.

The IEA said the end of a post-COVID economic bounce in China was limiting global oil demand, but that advanced economies, notably the United States, where one-third of global gasoline is consumed, compensated for that loss.

The summer driving season in the United States is set to be the strongest since the pandemic, the IEA added, and supply cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies (OPEC+) are tightening the physical market.

"For now, supply is struggling to keep pace with peak summer demand, tipping the market into a deficit," the Paris-based energy watchdog said in its monthly oil report.

 - Reuters