UPDATE 8-Oil settles near $70/bbl on hopes of recovering demand

* Gasoline demand expected to jump during summer
* OPEC sees stronger oil demand recovery in second half
* U.S. rig count falls for first time since November -Baker
Hughes
* U.S. crude output to grow this year -JP Morgan

(Updates with settlement prices)
By Laura Sanicola
NEW YORK, March 12 (Reuters) - Oil settled near $70 a barrel
on Friday, supported by production cuts by major oil producers
and optimism about a demand recovery in the second half of the
year.
Benchmark Brent LCOc1 settled down 41 cents, or 0.6%, to
$69.22 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude CLc1 also
ended down 41 cents to $65.61 a barrel.
Brent and U.S. crude ended the week roughly flat after
prices touched a 13-month high on Monday, following seven
straight weeks of gains.
"Demand for risky assets such as oil continues to be buoyed
by the White House relief package and an almost daily flow of
optimistic vaccine headlines," said Jim Ritterbusch, president
of Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Illinois.
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
forecast a stronger oil demand recovery this year, weighted to
the second half. OPEC, Russia and its allies decided last week
to maintain its output curbs almost unchanged. U.S. drillers are also holding back, cutting the number of
oil and natural gas rigs operating for the first time since
November, according to data from energy services firm Baker
Hughes Co BKR.N . "The stronger-than-expected rebound in the second half of
this year implies that the global economy and hence oil demand
outlook is close to shaking off its COVID woes," PVM analysts
said.
RBC Capital analysts said the fundamentals for summer
gasoline was the most bullish in nearly a decade.
The United States, world's largest oil consumer, saw a big
draw on U.S. gasoline stocks last week as the winter storm in
Texas disrupted refining output. EIA/S
Sustained higher oil prices are expected to encourage U.S.
producers to increase output, which could eventually weigh on
prices, JPMorgan analysts wrote.
JPMorgan expects U.S. oil output to average 11.36 million
barrels per day this year compared with 11.32 million bpd in
2020.
Earlier this week, the government revised down 2021's
decline expected in U.S. crude production. Output is seen
falling 160,000 bpd to 11.15 million bpd, a smaller decrease
than its previous monthly forecast for a 290,000-bpd drop.