UPDATE 6-Oil rises to fresh 6-week highs on bullish demand

* Oil demand could rise to 101.5 million bpd this summer
-Citi
* OPEC+ sees global oil inventories below 5-year average
* U.S. dollar near 9-week lows
* U.S. economy accelerates in first quarter
* India's total COVID-19 cases passed 18 million

(New throughout, updates prices, market activity and comments;
new byline, changes dateline, previous LONDON)
By Scott DiSavino
NEW YORK, April 29 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Thursday,
on track to hit six-week highs as strong U.S. economic data, a
weak dollar and an expected recovery in demand outweighed
concerns about rising output and the impact of higher COVID-19
cases in Brazil and India.
Brent LCOc1 futures rose 71 cents, or 1.1%, to $67.98 a
barrel by 12:20 p.m. EDT (1620 GMT). U.S. West Texas
Intermediate (WTI) crude CLc1 rose 56 cents, or 0.9%, to
$64.42.
Both benchmarks were up for a third straight day.
"Summer season is a synonym for driving season and drivers
in the United States, China and the United Kingdom are about to
start consuming more fuel, a development the market believes
will make up for India's Covid-19 downturn," said Bjornar
Tonhaugen, head of oil markets at Rystad Energy.
He added that oil prices drew additional support from a weak
dollar, which made "oil cheaper to buy internationally." The
greenback hovered near nine-week lows, under pressure from a
dovish outlook from the Federal Reserve and bold spending plans
from President Joe Biden. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
and its allies, a group known as OPEC+, stuck to its plans this
week for a gradual easing of oil production curbs from May to
July. OPEC+, which plans to bring back about 2 million barrels per
day (bpd) of production over the next three months, expects
global stocks to reach 2.95 billion barrels in July. That would
put those stockpiles below the 2015-2019 average. "A closer look at the state of global oil inventories
suggests that the market may be closer to the point of
rebalancing than what OPEC+ may think," analysts at Citibank
said, adding that the market has absorbed most of the crude
inventory overhang.
The bank expects vaccination campaigns in North America and
Europe to boost oil demand to a record high of 101.5 million bpd
over the northern hemisphere summer months, but said rising
COVID-19 cases in Brazil and India could hit local demand if
stricter lockdowns are reimposed. "The outbreak in India is holding back oil's rally," Howie
Lee, an economist at Singapore's OCBC bank, said.
India's total COVID-19 cases passed 18 million on
Thursday. In Europe, major energy companies, including BP PLC BP.L ,
Total SE TOTF.PA and Equinor ASA EQNR.OL , profited from
higher oil prices to report big increases in first-quarter
earnings. Investors also focused on a ramp-up in U.S. refinery
operating rates and a drawdown in distillates stocks last week,
in data released by the Energy Information Administration on
Wednesday.
U.S. economic growth accelerated in the first quarter,
fueled by massive government aid to households and businesses,
charting the course for what is expected to be the strongest
performance this year in nearly four decades.