The day started with crude at roughly $88.50 a barrel and jumped early on news that Exxon Mobile Corp. secured court orders to freeze $12 billion of Petroleos de Venezuela's assets in the wake of a dispute over oil fields Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez nationalized in 2007.

Heating oil prices lost ground late in the session, falling 0.16 cents to $2.5525 per gallon.

Reformulated blendstock gasoline prices dropped 0.22 cents to $2.3550 per gallon.

Natural gas prices also declined, down 2.1 cents to $8.280 per million British thermal units.

At the pump, the national average for a gallon of unleaded regular gasoline dropped to $2.966 from Thursday's price of $2.972, the AAA Daily Fuel Gauge Report said.