UPDATE 7-Oil slides as European lockdowns hurt outlook for demand recovery

* A third of French people enter new lockdown
* Demand slow, but Aramco CEO predicts recovery
* U.S. rig count rises to highest since April

(Updates prices)
By Devika Krishna Kumar
NEW YORK, March 22 (Reuters) - Oil prices eased further on
Monday after a broad sell-off last week, as new European
coronavirus lockdowns made a quick demand recovery look less
likely.
Brent crude LCOc1 was down 25 cents or 0.4% at $64.28 a
barrel by 12:54 p.m. ET (1654 GMT) and U.S. oil for delivery in
April CLc1 fell 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $61.20 a barrel ahead of
expiry.
The more active U.S. crude futures for delivery in May fell
18 cents or 0.3% to $61.26 a barrel.
Both contracts fell more than 6% last week after making
steady gains for months on the back of output cuts and an
expected demand recovery.
"Oil (had) its worst week this year as concerns grow over a
flaring up in COVID-19 cases across Europe," Dutch bank ING said
in a note. "This comes at a time when there are clear signs of
weakness in the physical oil market."
Nearly a third of French people entered a month-long
lockdown on Saturday while Germany plans to extend its lockdown
into a fifth month, according to a draft proposal. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned on Monday that
the third wave of COVID-19 infections sweeping across Europe
could be heading towards Britain. "Vaccination campaigns haven't been as fast as the market
had hoped for and consequently this will have an effect on the
oil demand recovery, which in turn hurts prices, cutting some
growth potential," said Louise Dickson, oil markets analyst at
Rystad Energy.
While a broad economic recovery remains elusive, Saudi
Aramco 2222.SE Chief Executive Amin Nasser was optimistic on
longer-term prospects for the world's top oil exporter. On
Sunday, Nasser said global oil demand was on track to reach 99
million barrels per day (bpd) by the end of 2021. "While I think demand is going to improve further as more
economies ease travel restrictions in the coming months, the
impact of this will be offset to some degree by rising oil
supply," Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at ThinkMarkets said.
"The OPEC+ will be easing supply restrictions slowly, while
U.S. shale production is likely to ramp up due to the attractive
oil prices again. All told, I can't see oil prices rising
significantly further. I think Brent will struggle to stay above
$70 and reckon WTI is going to average around $60 per barrel in
2021."
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC)and its allies, together known as OPEC+, have put in place
unprecedented production cuts in a pact to balance global
markets after demand plunged during the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.S. drillers, meanwhile, are starting to take advantage of
the recent spike in prices, adding the most rigs since January
in the week ending last Friday. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Saudi oil giant Aramco to scale back spending after 2020 profit
slump ID:nL1N2LJ031
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^>