World crude oil prices ended mixed Friday amid concern over supply.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in August, gained 3 cents to close at 70.87 dollars per barrel.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for August delivery fell 3 cents to 69.93 dollars per barrel.

Iranian oil minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh said on Friday that Iran will stop importing gasoline from September 23 and impose rationing considering the budget constraints.

Iran, OPEC's second biggest crude oil exporter, relies heavily on gasoline imports because refineries capacity falls far behind demand.

The U.S. Department of Energy reported Wednesday that gasoline reserves went up 300,000 barrels to 213.4 million last week. The increase was below the advance of 1.5 million barrels that analysts had predicted.

Supplies of gasoline are closely watched because of the peak demand season in the United States. Over the past four weeks, the nation's demand for gasoline has been running 0.9 percent higher than a year ago.

Source: Xinhua