World oil prices slipped Friday in volatile trade after major crude exporter Libya declared a cease-fire with rebels, easing fears about possible damage to its energy facilities.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for April, settled at $101.07 a barrel, down 35 cents from Thursday's market close.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for delivery in May shed 97 cents to close at $113.93 a barrel.

Brent oil had plunged $3 immediately after the cease-fire announcement from the government of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi.

For the market, the announcement signaled "that a wider war won't occur in North Africa," said Andy Lipow at Lipow Oil Associates.

But, he said, there was still "a possibility of Libya being split between west and east and oil production could remain shut in for an extended period of time.

The pro-democracy unrest has practically halted Libyan exports of crude oil to the West.

Crude oil prices earlier had surged after the United Nations late Thursday gave the go-ahead for a no-fly zone over Libya to stop Kadhafi's forces from crushing the pro-democracy insurgency.