Benchmark oil falls 16 cents to US$102.87/barrel; Brent drops 58 cents to US$108.63/barrel; wholesale gasoline falls 3 cents to US$2.68/gallon; natural gas gains 2 cents to US$3.59/mcf

Cindy Allen

NEW YORK , September 27, 2013 (Associated Press) – Crude oil slips below $103 a barrel, posts 3rd straight weekly loss

Oil fell slightly Friday, and finished the week with a decline of nearly 2 percent.

Benchmark oil for November delivery fell 16 cents to close at $102.87 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, the price declined $1.80 a barrel, or 1.7 percent.

Oil has fallen for three straight weeks as diplomatic efforts surrounding Syria and Iran ease concerns about Middle East supplies. That's outweighed some positive economic news in the U.S.

Brent crude, the benchmark for international crudes used by many U.S. refineries, dropped 58 cents to $108.63 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange in London.

In other energy futures trading on Nymex:

— Wholesale gasoline fell 3 cents to $2.68 per gallon.

— Natural gas rose 2 cents to $3.59 per 1,000 cubic feet.

— Heating oil lost 1 cent to $2.99 per gallon.