1st LD Writethru: Oil prices rise on supply speculation

Crude prices rose Friday amid the speculation that the low price will curb the surplus supply as U.S. rig count continued to drop this week. The number of U.S. rigs actively drilling for oil and natural gas as of April 10, dropped 40 rigs to 988, reported oil service company Baker Hughes Friday. Analysts believed that low crude prices forced U.S. shale oil producers to slow down the output.

Last week U.S. crude production increased 18,000 barrels to 9. 404 million barrels a day, according to Energy Information Administration (EIA).

U.S. crude supplies increased 10.9 million barrels to 482.4 million, 98.3 million barrels more than a year earlier. Meanwhile, inventories at Cushing, Oklahoma, the delivery point for the contract, gained 1.2 million barrels to 60.2 million barrels.

Upbeat data from U.S., the largest oil consumer also supported the oil prices.

Last week, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial jobless claims was 281,000, an increase of 14,000 from the previous week's revised level, according to U.S. Labor Department Thursday.

Light, sweet crude for May delivery gained 85 cents to settle at 51.64 U.S. dollars a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for May delivery moved up 1.3 dollars to close at 57.87 dollars a barrel. Endite