Light, sweet crude for November delivery edged slightly higher on Friday, rising 13 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $66.02 per barrel Friday afternoon on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Friday’s modest gain does little to make up for the nearly 9% price drop the fuel saw this week, motivated by a weekly report released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Energy, which showed crude inventories on the rise. Thursday’s 3% plunge followed a worse-than-expected drop in existing home sales, leading traders to fear the economic recovery would be slower than anticipated.

Oil prices were able to remain stable on Friday, after a report out of Goldman Sachs (GS) boosted the bank’s forecasts for oil demand worldwide, saying it expects the commodity to jump to $85 a barrel by year-end. This pushed crude as high as $67.09 per barrel, but demand concerns still weighed on the minds of traders as the fuel fell as low as $65.05 per barrel on Friday morning.

On the week, the fuel fell $6.47 or 8.93% to $66.02 per barrel, ending a two-week gaining streak to make this week crude’s worst since the week ending on July 10.

Oil and gas companies traded flat to slightly lower on Friday. Hess Corp. (HES) fell 38 cents, or 0.7%, to $53.08 per share, while Marathon Oil (MRO) fell 39 cents, or 1.2%, to close at $31.64 per share. Total S.A. (TOT) fell 18 cents, or 0.3%, to close at $58.63 per share on Friday.

Other Fuels
RBOB gasoline for October delivery fell 1.61 cents, or 1%, to settle at $1.6205 per gallon, its lowest settle since May 5. Friday’s losses come after the fuel fell 9% over the last three trading days. On the week, the RBOB gasoline fell 21.19 cents per gallon or 11.56%, it’s third consecutive weekly loss. This week saw the largest weekly decline in dollars for the fuel since the week ending December 5, 2008, and it was the largest percentage decline since the week ending December 26, 2008. So far this month, RBOB gasoline is down 18.4%.

Heating oil fell slightly in Friday’s session, dipping just 0.43 cents, or 0.3%, to settle at $1.6771 per gallon, the fuel’s lowest settle since July 29. This week, heating oil dropped 8.25%, or 15.08 cents per gallon, in its worst week since the week ending on September 4. The fuel is down 5.7% so far this month.

Bucking the trend among the fuels, natural gas for delivery in October rose three cents or 0.76% to settle at $3.985 per million BTUs, its highest settle since August 5. The fuel posted its third weekly gain in a row, jumping 5.5% this week or 20.7 cents per million BTUs. In the past three weeks, natural gas prices have gone up 46%, and the fuel is up 34% this month.

Metals
Gold for delivery in September fell $7.30, or 0.7%, to settle at $990.20 per troy ounce, its lowest settle since September 2. This week, the metal lost 1.88%, or $19 per troy ounce, after five consecutive weekly gains. This week was the metal’s largest dollar loss since the week ending June 12, and the largest percentage loss since the week ending July 10. So far this month, gold is up 4%.

Silver plunged 1.4%, or 23.50 cents, to settle at $16.0380 per troy ounce, its lowest settle since Sept. 2. This week saw the largest percentage and dollar drop for the metal since the week ending Feb. 27, with silver losing $1.005 per troy ounce or 5.9%. In the past three trading days, silver has lost 6.17%, but so far this month, the metal is up 7.6%.

Copper for September delivery rose 3.15 cents or 1.2%, ending a two-day losing streak to settle at $2.731 per pound. On the week, the metal fell 4.0 cents per pound, or 1.4%, its fourth consecutive weekly loss. So far this month, copper is down 2.7%.