Oil prices pared part of early gains to end mildly higher Friday, as the country's nonfarm payrolls data came out much stronger than expected.

The West Texas Intermediate for August delivery increased 27 cents to settle at 45.41 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for September delivery climbed 36 cents to close at 46.76 dollars a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.