Crude oil prices were lower Friday even after good news from the US Labor Department, which reported that private employers added 67,000 jobs to the US economy last month, although overall employment was down 54,000 and the unemployment rate was at 9.6 percent in August.

Prices also fell as Hurricane Earl weakened and stayed well away from oil producing regions, reducing concerns that the storm might interrupt supplies.

October contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude ended the session down 42 cents to trade at $74.60 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude lately traded 54 cents lower to $76.39 per barrel on the ICE Futures Europe Exchange in London.

Nymex October gasoline futures closed less than a cent lower at $1.92 per gallon, down 1.6 percent this week but October natural gas futures added 19 cents to $3.94 per million British thermal units, up 8 percent on the week.

In earlier afternoon trade, Nymex heating oil futures had dropped 3 cents to $2.04 per gallon.