Summary Global oil prices dipped Federal Reserve hinted at early end to stimulus.
Global oil prices dipped on Friday after minutes from the last policy meeting at the Federal Reserve sparked speculation of an unexpectedly early end to its quantitative easing stimulus.
However, the market clawed back some of its earlier losses after December's US non-farm payrolls report showed modest jobs growth.
Brent North Sea crude for February sank 92 cents to $111.22 per barrel in late afternoon trade in London.
New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, slid 27 cents to $92.65 a barrel.
"Prices were ... driven down following the move by the US Federal Reserve to signal a possible end to fiscal stimulus this year, which has raised concern that the economic recovery may falter," said Inenco energy analyst Gary Hornby.
Fed policymakers were divided over how long the central bank should continue asset purchases to support the economy, the minutes of their last meeting showed Thursday.
The Federal Open Market Committee, at a December meeting, approved open-ended quantitative easing, but some thought the purchases should continue until the end of 2013 while others thought they should end sooner, the minutes showed.
The FOMC agreed at the meeting to launch a new, open-ended $45 billion a month program of buying longer-term Treasury securities to replace the bond-swap Operation Twist program that was to expire at year-end.
The panel also continued its QE program for mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month, as well as other measures aimed at pushing down long-term interest rates to encourage investment.
The minutes of the December 11-12 meeting highlighted the climate of uncertainty the central bankers saw in the economy and about the effectiveness of their policies.
Meanwhile on Friday, official data showed that the US economy continued to add jobs in December at the same modest rate as the past two years.
Last month the economy generated 155,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate held at 7.8 percent, around where the rate has been since September.
The number of jobs created was slightly lower than in November, and close to the monthly average for both 2011 and 2012 of 153,000.
Crude futures had hit an 11-week high on Wednesday after the US Congress backed an agreement that averted across-the-board tax hikes and automatic spending cuts which could have tipped the economy into recession.
However, while the tax problem was addressed, another row is expected as an agreement must be struck within two months to deal with billions of dollars of spending cuts as well as to raise the country's debt ceiling.
The United States is the world's biggest oil consuming nation and its energy consumption patterns can influence global prices.
