SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Crude-oil futures see-sawed Friday as the lift from a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report proved short-lived. A Labor Department report showed the economy lost 54,000 nonfarm jobs in August, a smaller decline than expected. Crude for October delivery lost 59 cents, or 0.8%, to $74.40 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange in recent trading after trading higher earlier. On the week, oil has lost 1%. The unemployment rate ticked higher to 9.6% in August from 9.5%, as expected. The decline in jobs was smaller than the 105,000 expected by economists polled by MarketWatch. Private-sector payrolls rose by 67,000 in August, also exceeding market expectations, which had called for an increase of 30,000. Oil rallied Thursday, as a fire at a Gulf of Mexico oil platform turned a mild rebound into a 1.5% gain on the day. All crew members were safely removed from the rig, but the incident is likely to give more traction to government efforts to restrict offshore drilling, analysts said. Prices also lost another psychological support on Friday as the threat to energy infrastructure from Hurricane Earl eased. Natural gas for October delivery added 6 cents, or 1.7%, to $3.81 per million British thermal units. On the week, natural gas has gained 2.7%. Reformulated gasoline for October delivery lost 2 cents, or 1%, to $1.90 a gallon on Friday. So far this week, gasoline has added 0.5%.

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