Oil Prices Steady Before Festive Break

New York oil prices topped the $100 level on Friday but slipped back below the threshold to end little-changed ahead of the Christmas holiday.

There was little real news to drive markets, but analysts said that optimism in the markets and traders' pre-holiday short-covering generally helped keep a floor on prices.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, closed 15 cents higher from late Thursday at $99.68 a barrel.

Brent North Sea crude for February added seven cents to $107.96 in London.

"The market surprised a lot of traders hanging around $100," said Rich Ilczyszyn of iitrader.com.

"It's a short-covering rally on thin volume -- nobody wants to stay short during this extended weekend," he said.

$100 a barrel "is the benchmark price and there is definitely going to be some resistance," he said.

"But if the stock market manages to rally into next week, oil prices will go higher as well."

Thursday's encouraging U.S. jobless claims numbers continued to influence perceptions that the economy is picking up pace, traders said.

"We had very supportive numbers from the U.S.," said Nick Trevethan, a senior commodities strategist for ANZ Research.

"However, it is the Christmas holiday season and trading volume is getting pretty light," he told AFP.

Meanwhile Russian oil company Tatneft said it had suspended operations in Syria, where at least 40 people were killed Friday in suicide bombing attacks in the capital Damascus.

"For the moment, all operations have been suspended. The employees are staying put, but work has been suspended," Tatneft chief executive Shafagat Takhautdinov said, according to Interfax news agency.

Tatneft began producing oil earlier this year in eastern Syria's Abu Kamal region near the Iraqi border in a joint venture with the Syrian state-owned General Petroleum Corporation.

The South Kishima field has estimated recoverable oil reserves of 4.9 million tons.