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(Bloomberg) -- The outlook for oil demand likely will see further downward revisions amid higher fuel prices, said Ed Morse, global head of commodity research at Citigroup Inc.

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“Almost everybody has reduced their expectations of demand for the year,” Morse said in a Bloomberg Television interview Wednesday. Citigroup reduced its forecast by about a third to 2.4 million-2.5 million barrels a day, similar to the US Energy Information Administration and the International Energy Agency. “Demand is simply not growing on an empirical basis to the degree that people had expected.”

Oil prices have soared this year as global demand returned with economies slowly emerging from the pandemic. While crude prices are hovering around $100 a barrel, Citigroup reiterated its base case for oil prices at $85 a barrel, adding that supply is “accelerating” into year-end.

“We don’t see the burgeoning demand coming out of China,” Morse said, noting that the nation has been building stockpiles this year.

Earlier this week, Citigroup had warned that oil prices could collapse to $65 a barrel by the end of this year and slump to $45 by the end-2023 if a demand-crippling recession hits. That outlook is based on an absence of any intervention by OPEC+ producers and a decline in oil investments, Morse and Francesco Martoccia said in a report. Citi’s forecast is in stark contrast to more bullish calls from other banks and market experts.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. analysts said global prices could reach a “stratospheric” $380 a barrel if US and European penalties prompt Russia to inflict retaliatory crude-output cuts. Meanwhile, Energy Aspects’ Amrita Sen said in a Bloomberg Television interview that a mild global recession is already priced into oil markets and even with one, prices are unlikely to slip below $80 to $90 a barrel.

(Updates with other bank, analyst oil forecasts.)