1st LD Writethru: Oil prices slip on ample supply

Crude prices continued to decline Friday as global supply glut weighed on the market.

U.S. crude production reached 9.324 million barrels a day last week, the highest level since 1983, according to the Energy Information Administration, the Energy Department's statistical arm.

Meanwhile, the number of U.S. rigs actively drilling for oil and natural gas as of March 6 fell 75 rigs to 1,192, said oil service company Baker Hughes Friday. The rig count is down 600 from the same time last year.

Meanwhile, there is little signs that Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, maintaining its collective output quota at 30 million barrels a day, would cut production in response to the slump. Analysts believed that it would take time for U.S. shale oil producers to slow down the output.

U.S. dollar soared on upbeat nonfarm payrolls Friday. The U.S. economy added 295,000 jobs last month, up from a revised 239,000 gain in January, and the unemployment rate fell to 5.5 percent, the lowest level since May 2008, from 5.7 percent in the previous month, the Labor Department said on Friday.

A stronger greenback made the dollar-priced crude more expensive and less attractive for buyers holding other currencies.

Light, sweet crude for April delivery lost 1.15 U.S. dollars to settle at 49.61 dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for April delivery moved down 75 cents to close at 59.73 dollars a barrel. Endite