New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in October, lost two cents to $88.91 per barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for October delivery gained 19 cents to $114.48.

"The US jobs data is coming out tonight, and there is a likelihood that prices will stay in a tight range," said Ker Chung Yang, a Singapore-based commodity analyst at Phillip Futures.

Markets remained jittery before the release of US nonfarm payrolls data later Friday, which will indicate whether the labour market in the world's biggest economy and oil consumer is showing any signs of improvement.

Meanwhile, oil majors including BP, ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell have started evacuating workers from their rigs in the Gulf of Mexico ahead of a storm which is forecasted to have a 70 percent chance of becoming a tropical cyclone.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011