us oil futures on friday settled lower on the eve of 2022 marking the first decline in the past eight sessions but the loss belies a stellar year for crude bulls with the commodity posting the sharpest annual rise since 2009 west texas intermediate crude oil for february delivery clg22 cl00 declined 178 or 23 to end at 7521 a barrel on the new york mercantile exchange after gaining 06 on thursday for the week oil rose 19 rose 137 in december and posteed a 03 rise in the quarter for the year wti rallied more than 55 to clinch its sharpest annual gain in 12 years factset data show