NYMEX-Crude stays below $100 after Iran embargo delay

>

Oil prices also found support from a strong demand for Spanish and Italian debt sales that eased fears on the euro zone debt crisis and tempered risk aversion ahead of another auction from Rome later in the day.

FUNDAMENTALS

* On the New York Mercantile Exchange, February crude rose 33 cents at $99.43 a barrel as of 0025 GMT.

* In London, ICE Brent crude for February delivery was not yet traded after settling down 98 cents at $111.26 a barrel on Thursday.

* EU diplomats said a consensus was emerging to grant a grace period before banning new deals with Iran - six months for crude oil purchases and three for petrochemicals.

* U.S. allies in Asia and Europe voiced support on Thursday for Washington's drive to cut Iran's oil exports, though fear of self-inflicted economic pain is curbing enthusiasm for an embargo that a defiant Iran says will not halt its nuclear programme.

* The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on China's state-run Zhuhai Zhenrong Corp, which it said was Iran's largest supplier of refined petroleum products, as it sought to impress on Beijing and Tehran its resolve to increase economic pressure over Iran's nuclear program.

* Iran's biggest oil customers from across Asia are flocking to alternative Middle East suppliers this month under renewed U.S. pressure to stop buying Iranian crude and unprecedented tension over Tehran's nuclear programme.

* Concerns of supply disruption from Nigeria eased slightly as one of its main trade unions said talks with President Goodluck Jonathan over the government's removal of publicly popular fuel subsidies were fruitful and ongoing, adding that strikes would continue until an agreement was reached.

MARKETS NEWS

* The euro held its ground in Asia on Friday, having risen broadly overnight after debt sales in Spain and Italy drew solid demand, raising expectations that an auction of longer-dated Italian bonds later in the day will also do well.

* Japan's Nikkei average rose 1 percent in early trade on Friday, boosted by solid demand at debt auctions by Spain and Italy, now at the forefront of the euro zone debt crisis, and gains on Wall Street.

* The S&P 500 closed at a five-month high for the third day on Thursday but had difficulty extending gains in the face of lackluster economic data and another European bond market test.

DATA/EVENTS

* The following data is expected on Friday (GMT):

1000 EZ Eurostat trade nsa, EUR Nov 2011

1200 JPMorgan Chase & Co earnings Q4 2011

2030 U.S. CFTC commitment of traders data Weekly (Reporting by Cho Mee-young; Editing by Himani Sarkar)

Energy