After rising for five days in a row, Brent futures fell 21 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $76.30 a barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude fell 40 cents, or 0.5%, to settle at $73.56.
Despite those declines, both crude benchmarks remained in technically overbought territory for a third day in a row.
On Friday, Brent settled at its highest level since Oct. 14 and WTI closed at its highest since Oct. 11 due in part on expectations of more fiscal stimulus to revitalise China's faltering economy.
With interest in energy trade growing in recent weeks, open interest in WTI futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange soared to 1.933 million contracts on Friday, the most since June 2023.
"Oil markets have entered 2025 with balanced supply-and-demand fundamentals, but with prices being propped up by enduring geopolitical tensions," analysts at Eurasia Group, a consultancy, said in a report.
"As the year progresses, oil markets will probably continue to experience low demand growth that may be outpaced by new supply, especially from the U.S. and likely OPEC as well," Eurasia Group said.
In the United States, the world's biggest economy, new orders for manufactured goods fell in November amid weakness in demand for commercial aircraft while business spending on equipment appeared to have slowed in the fourth quarter, according to data from the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.
In Germany, Europe's biggest economy, annual inflation rose more than forecast in December due to higher food prices and a smaller drop in energy prices than in previous months.
