Oil Finally Pulls Back

Soaring crude oil futures prices finally tapered off on Friday after seven straight days of gains.

The May light sweet crude oil contract fell 16 cents to finish the week at $65.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude prices rose 5.6% in extremely active trading this week.

Reformulated gasoline fell a penny to $2.12 a gallon. Heating oil edged higher a penny to $1.88 a gallon. Natural gas advanced 12 cents to $7.73 per million British thermal unit.

Crude futures advanced slightly in early trading, induced by more posturing between Britain and Iran over 15 British soldiers captured by the Iranian navy last week. However, oil prices reversed and slid into negative territory in the afternoon.

The European Union took up the British cause, threatening to "take appropriate measures" against Iran if the soldiers are not released. The move was a boost to Britain, which was unable to convince the United Nations to make a similar declaration Thursday night.

While the U.N. expressed "grave concern" over detention of the 15 soldiers, it failed to "deplore" the action or insist on their immediate release as Britain had insisted.

Upward pressure on crude prices generated by the issue is probably tapped out, according to Edward Meir, energy analyst at Man Financial. "If Iran was to hand over the soldiers without the standoff escalating, crude prices would probably fall by $2.50."