"The market is not expecting any production cuts at the moment," said Tetsu Emori, an analyst with Mitsui Bussan Futures in Tokyo. "The market sentiment is not really confident. Some oil producing countries have already cut production but the market hasn't really reacted."

Light, sweet crude for November delivery dropped 25 cents to $59.78 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe.

On London's ICE Futures exchange, November Brent crude was down 15 cents at $59.85 a barrel.

Heating oil futures fell 0.75 cent to $1.6845 a gallon while unleaded gasoline was down 1.15 cents to $1.5135 a gallon. Natural gas futures gained 6.2 cents to $6.360 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Prices had risen Thursday following reports that the 11-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was planning to trim its daily production by 1 million barrels.

Traders said they doubted whether all Opec members would go ahead with any informal agreement intended to stem a 24 percent decline in prices since mid-July.