SINGAPORE: Oil futures fell in Asian trade on Friday as oversupply and a strengthening dollar weighed on sentiment, although another fall in US oil output in January helped to limit the losses.
Brent crude for June delivery fell 27 cents to $40.06 a barrel as of 0320 GMT.
The May contract, which expired on Thursday, settled up 34 cents at $39.60 a barrel.
Brent jumped 6 percent in the first quarter, its first quarterly increase since rising 15 percent in the second quarter of 2015.
Front month US crude futures dropped 25 cents to $38.09 a barrel after settling up 2 cents in the previous session.
The US benchmark rose 4 percent over January-March, also its first quarterly gain since surging nearly 25 percent in the second quarter of last year.
Still, prices have recently pulled back on low trading volumes, concerns about oversupply ahead of an oil producers' meeting in Doha to agree a possible output freeze on April 17, and a firmer dollar, said Michael McCarthy, chief market strategist at Sydney's CMC Markets.
"There is very little bullishness," he said.
The dollar index rose in trading on Friday, rebounding from a mid-October low hit in the previous session.
A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities including oil more expensive for holders of other currencies.
Cuts in US crude oil output, which fell for the fourth straight month in January, were helping to support prices on Friday, McCarthy said. But oil markets would not get back into balance until the some of the overhanging supply is cleared, he added.
US oil output fell by 56,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 9.179 million bpd in January, the fourth consecutive month oil production had fallen and the lowest level since October 2014, according to monthly data from the US Energy Information Administration.
Economists and oil analysts polled by Reuters raised their average price forecasts for 2016 for the first time in 10 months, but cautioned that investor concerns over global oversupply, softening demand and weakening economic outlook could weigh on prices.
Analysts said US crude futures would average $39.70 a barrel in 2016, compared with an average of about $33.50 so far this year.
Brent futures would average $40.90 a barrel the survey of 31 pundits showed, against the current average of $35 for the year.
Imports of Iranian crude by Asia's four biggest buyers jumped by 24.6 percent to 1.27 million barrels per day (bpd) from a year earlier to hit a two-year high in February, figures published on Thursday showed.
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