NYMEX crude and ICE Brent settled lower Friday as eurozone woes continued to push investors away from risk.
NYMEX July crude futures settled 72 cents lower at $84.10/barrel, while July ICE Brent settled down 46 cents to $99.47/b.
Products, which were down throughout the day, barely settled higher after a flurry of buying near the settle. NYMEX July heating oil settled 33 points higher at $2.6704/gal, with RBOB futures essentially unchanged at $2.6852/gal, up 2 points in light volume.
US equities were stronger Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up about 73 points and the S%P 500 about 7 points higher just prior to the close of open outcry.
The US Dollar Index continued to trade higher, up 4.42 points to 82.493 around the NYMEX settle.
After ratings agency Fitch downgraded Spanish sovereign debt to BBB from A, Spain's government said Friday it had taken no decision whatsoever on any banking rescue as it waits for detailed figures on the financial sector's needs, according to AFP.
"No decisions of any kind have been taken," Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria told a news conference, stressing that Madrid was waiting for an audit of the banks' balance sheets, AFP reported.
Spain's government was waiting for the release of an International Monetary Fund report on the banking system, due Monday, and the results of independent audits, she said.
Comments made Thursday by US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke hit Asian and European markets hard during overnight trading.
"The markets are reeling after fully digesting yesterday's comments from Fed Chairman Bernanke, who did not deliver on hopes for an immediate plan to boost stimulus in the US," Addison Armstrong of Tradition Energy in New York wrote in a note.
"Traders are also cutting back on risk ahead of [Saturday's] data flush from China, which will report its latest inflation, investment and output figures," he said.
Chinese CPI, PPI, fixed asset investment, and industrial production data are set to be released early Saturday morning in China.
Meanwhile, the International Atomic Energy Agency and Iran failed Friday to agree on a deal allowing greater access to Tehran's contested nuclear program, a setback as world powers prepare for crucial talks in Moscow.
"There has been no progress," IAEA chief inspector Herman Nackaerts announced late Friday, AFP reported, after all-day talks with Iran's envoy to the agency, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, and IAEA deputy director general Rafael Grossi.
Barring progress in Moscow, an EU oil embargo against Iran will come into force on July 1, adding to a range of sanctions imposed under UN resolutions.
Meanwhile, former Iranian oil minister Gholamhossein Nozari said he will focus on unity among OPEC members if he is appointed secretary general of the oil producer group, Iran's Mehr news agency reported Friday. OPEC meets June 14 in Vienna to consider crude production options for the second half of 2012.
