Benchmark oil for August delivery was down 4 cents to $98.63 a barrel late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude oil rose $2.02 to settle at $98.67 on Thursday.

In London, Brent crude oil fell 72 cents to $117.87 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Traders will be closely watching the Labour Department's monthly employment report scheduled for release before the U.S. market opens later on Friday. Economists estimate the unemployment rate will remain at 9.1 percent and that employers added 90,000 jobs last month.

On Thursday, the department said the number of Americans who applied for unemployment benefits fell last week to the lowest level in seven weeks. Payroll processor ADP said the private sector added 157,000 jobs last month, which was more than double what economists had forecast.         

AP