New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February shed 30 cents to $95.26 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for March delivery dropped 28 cents to $111.61.
China announced Friday that while economic growth slowed for the second straight year in 2012, output climbed 7.9 percent higher in the fourth quarter compared with the year-ago period.
The report came on the heels of better-than-expected US data on jobless claims and housing starts.
Prices were also given support last week by concerns over the seizure by radical Islamists of a gas plant in the Algerian desert.
Algeria is a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and there were fears of supply disruptions. However, the crisis came to a bloody end at the weekend in a showdown between the extremists and Algerian troops.