Investing.com - Crude futures shrugged off an upbeat U.S. jobs report and slid on Friday on news that Saudi Arabia trimmed the price of oil it exports to the U.S. and Asia.
In the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate crude futures for delivery in January traded down 1.73% at $65.66 a barrel during U.S. trading, up from a session low of $65.19 a barrel and off a high of $66.86 a barrel.
The January contract settled down 0.85% at $66.81 a barrel on Thursday.
Support for the commodity was seen at $63.72 a barrel, Monday's low, and resistance at $73.56 a barrel, last Friday's high.
Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company on Thursday lowered official selling prices for its crude in January to the lowest in at least 14 years for buyers in the U.S. and Asia, a move that continued to push down prices on Friday.
The measure suggested that the kingdom is stepping up a battle for market share with cheaper U.S. shale oil after last week's OPEC decision to keep production quotas unchanged, giving oil prices room to slide lower.
Oil prices have taken a hit in recent months on supply concerns.
While OPEC has left price quotas unchanged, conflicts in the Mideast and Eastern Europe have not affected supply as once feared, while cooling economies in Europe and Asia have stoked concerns that global supply is outstripping demand.
Upbeat U.S. data failed to boost oil prices by stoking hopes consumption of energy and fuel will rise in the world's now second-largest economy following China.
The Labor Department reported earlier that the U.S. economy added 321,000 jobs in November, well past expectations for a 225,000 reading. October's figure was revised up to 243,000 from a previously estimated 214,000, pointing to underlying strength in the labor market.
The U.S. unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.8% last month, in line with expectations, and the numbers fueled expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates in 2015, possibly earlier than once anticipated.
The data fueled demand for the dollar, which helped soften oil.
A stronger greenback tends to make oil a less attractive commodity on dollar-denominated exchanges, especially in the eyes of investors holding other currencies.
Separately, on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, Brent oil futures for January delivery were down 1.20% at US$68.81 a barrel, while the spread between Brent and U.S. crude contracts stood at $3.15.