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• Oil prices fell to near $99 a barrel Friday in Asia as encouraging news about the U.S. economy was tempered by European demands for Greece to make further spending cuts before getting a new bailout.Benchmark crude for March delivery was down 61 cents at $99.23 a barrel at late afternoon Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.13 to settle at $99.84 on Thursday.Brent crude was down 37 cents at $118.22 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.
• Crude has bobbed around $100 for the last few months, buoyed by signs the U.S. economy is improving. On Thursday, the U.S. reported that the number of Americans seeking unemployment benefits fell to near a four-year low last week, suggesting the job market is gaining strength.``The energy market appears positioned for additional price gains as we still look for crude to work its way up to the $101 area,'' energy consultant Ritterbusch and Associates said in a report.Oil has risen from $96 earlier this month on growing investor optimism Greece may avoid a chaotic debt default. Greece agreed on Thursday to new spending cuts and other austerity measures that were necessary to receive an international bailout.
• However, hours later, European ministers said Greece didn't go far enough and demanded more cuts within a week in exchange for a 130 billion euro ($170 billion) bailout to stave off bankruptcy.In other energy trading, heating oil was down 0.7 cents at $3.20 per gallon and gasoline futures fell 1.4 cents to $3.00 per gallon. Natural gas slid 0.7 cents to $2.47 per 1,000 cubic feet.

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