NYMEX-Crude firms above $61 on big stock draw

* EIA data: larger-than-forecast crude, gasoline draws

* Dollar near 5-month low, Wall Street pares gains

NEW YORK, May 20 (Reuters) - U.S. crude futures firmed
above $61 a barrel on Wednesday after hitting fresh six-month
highs earlier as traders weighed government inventory data,
which showed larger-than-forecast drawdowns in crude and
gasoline supplies last week.

"Week over week, the report is very bullish. I think
because of the API report it was priced in a little bit. It
took away some of the shock value," said Phil Flynn, analyst at
Alaron Trading in Chicago, said of the Energy Information
Administration data.

"But there were many cross currents in the data 'under the
hood' such as lower refinery utilization, a drop off in crude
runs, and higher crude imports that usually add up to crude
stocks gaining more than expectations versus the
bigger-than-expected draw that we saw today," said Chris
Jarvis, senior analyst, Caprock Risk Management in Hampton
Falls, New Hampshire.

Gasoline futures traded below fresh seven-month highs, as
traders booked some profits, with prices having surged more
than 15 cents so far this week.

PRICES

* On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 12:45 p.m. (1645
GMT), front-month July crude CLN9 was up $1.36, or 2.26
percent, at $61.46 a barrel, trading from $59.86 to $62.14, the
highest since $62.28 was struck on Nov. 11.

* In London, July Brent crude LCON9 was up $1.18, or 2
percent, at $60.10 a barrel, trading from $58.76 to $60.72.

* NYMEX June RBOB RBM9 was up 2.25 cents, or 1.24
percent, at $1.8350 a gallon, trading from $1.8210 to $1.8724,
the highest since prices hit $1.8965 on Oct. 15.

* NYMEX June heating oil HOM9 was up 2.63 cents, or 1.77
percent, at $1.5129 a gallon, trading from $1.4840 to $1.5334.

* The July/July RBOB crack spread <0#RB-CL=R> was at
$13.94. The July/July heating oil crack spread <0#CL-HO=R> was
at $3.06.

* The spread between the current front month and the
five-year forward crude contract CLc61 was at $14.23, based
on the July 2014 contract settlement on Tuesday at $75.69.

TECHNICALS

NYMEX crude 10-day/20-day moving average: $58.50/$55.31

Technical support/resistance:

NYMEX crude: $57.69/$62.00

NYMEX heating oil: $1.4762/$1.57

NYMEX RBOB: $1.7725/1.8425

For a report on technicals click [ID:nLK941627]

MARKET NEWS

* U.S. stocks pared gains as a pullback in financial shares
offset positive broker comments on bellwethers McDonald's
(MCD.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Procter & Gamble (PG.N: Quote, Profile, Research). [.N]

* The dollar hit its lowest level in nearly five months
against the euro and a basket of major currencies, continuing
its slide as investors stuck to the view that the worst of the
global financial crisis had passed. [USD/]

* The EIA said that for the week to May 15, crude stocks
fell 2.1 million barrels to 368.5 million barrels, against the
forecast in a Reuters poll for a 200,000-barrel draw.[EIA/S]

* Gasoline stocks dropped 4.3 million barrels to 204
million barrels, far greater than the forecast for a
1.2-million-barrel decline.

* Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel,
rose 600,000 barrels to 148.1 million barrels. That was lower
than the forecast for a 1.0-million-barrel increase.

* Refinery utilization was down 1.9 percentage points at
81.8 percent of capacity, going against the forecast for a 0.3
percentage point rise.

* The API said on Tuesday that crude stocks fell 4.5
million barrels, gasoline stocks dropped 5.4 million barrels
and distillate stocks rose 1.4 million barrels. [API/S]
(Reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons)