Oil prices fall for first time in seven days

World oil prices ran out of steam Friday after six days of gains, amid concerns about abundant global supplies, heightened by quota-breaking OPEC production.

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) for delivery in May sank 97 cents to close at $55.74 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent North Sea crude for June delivery, the global benchmark, settled at $63.45 a barrel in London trade, down 53 cents from Thursday's closing level.

The market had gotten ahead of itself in the rally, said Bill Baruch of iiTrader.com. WTI surged 12.5 percent over the past six trading sessions.

"It couldn't sustain this level," Baruch said, adding that "traders are quick to take their profits," action that is particularly common ahead of the weekend. The May WTI contract expires Tuesday.

Oil prices have plunged in half since mid-2014 in the context of oversupply and weak global demand. The market has been volatile as traders try to determine whether lower prices will eventually curb output or that demand will pick up.

Some have focused on the declining US drilling rig count, the apparent recent slowing in US crude oil production and the slower rate of US inventory increases, said Tim Evans of Citi Futures in a research note.

But for Evans, "we continue to see the recent increase in OPEC crude oil production as only expanding the global supply/demand surplus" and predicted the second quarter would have an oversupply of 1.9 million barrels per day "or more."

The 12-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which pumps about a third of the world's oil, reported Thursday that its production in March rose by 810,000 barrels per day to average 30.79 mbpd, above the cartel's quota.

The cartel's decision in November to not reduce its 30 mbpd quota, despite falling oil prices, had sent prices into a tailspin.

The Baker Hughes US drilling rig count released Friday showed 26 fewer active rigs in US oilfields than in the previous week, bringing the total to 734, about half the number operating a year ago.

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