Oil prices drop amid strong US dollar

Oil prices fell on Friday as the stronger US dollar made the dollar-priced crude more expensive and less attractive for buyers holding other currencies.

The US dollar increased against other major currencies on Friday as the economic data from the country came out better than expected, Xinhua reported.

Oil prices were also dragged down by the supply glut. US crude supplies of last week gained 8 million barrels to 476.6 million barrels, 98.9 million barrels more than one year before, according to the weekly report published by the Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.

Data released by oil service company Baker Hughes on Friday showed that the number of active US oil-drilling lost 1 to 594 this week.

The rig data gave the market some support as traders believed that US oil companies continued to cut the expense in face of the low oil prices.

The West Texas Intermediate for December delivery moved down 78 cents to settle at $44.6 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while Brent crude for December delivery decreased 9 cents to close at $47.99 a barrel on the London ICE Futures Exchange.