NYMEX-Crude rallies on large oil inventory decline

* EIA: Crude, gasoline stocks down and distillates up

* Durable goods, jobless claims data better than expected

* OPEC keeps output targets unchanged at Vienna meeting

NEW YORK, May 28 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures rallied
toward $65 a barrel on Thursday after government data showed
that domestic crude inventories dropped much more than expected
last week as refineries ramped up operations and imports fell.

Data for gasoline, which showed a smaller-than-expected
stock drawdown, and a lower-than-forecast supply increase for
distillate stocks were deemed overall bullish by traders.

Prices were already above $64 on better-than-expected U.S.
economic data and a decision by OPEC to keep output steady, as
expected, betting on a strengthening world economy and
tentative signs of increased demand to boost oil prices.
[ID:nLS12120]

"The data for crude and gasoline are bullish, and with the
smaller-than-forecast distillate stock build, the EIA numbers
appear to me bullish across the board," said Mark Waggoner,
president, Excel Futures in Huntington Beach, California.

PRICES

* On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 11:50 a.m. EDT
(1550 GMT), July crude CLN9 was up $1.18, or 1.86 percent, at
$64.63 a barrel, trading from $62.75 to $64.99, the highest
intraday price since $65.56 was hit on Nov. 10.

* In London, July Brent crude LCON9 was up $1.40, or 2.24
percent, at $63.90 a barrel, trading from $61.78 to $64.22.

* NYMEX June RBOB RBM9 edged up 0.55 cent, or 0.29
percent, to $1.8972 a gallon, trading from $1.8685 to $1.91,
the highest intraday price since Oct. 14.

* NYMEX June heating oil HOM9 rose 3.25 cents, or 2.08
percent, to $1.5942 a gallon, trading from $1.5475 to $1.6070.

* The July/July RBOB crack spread <0#RB-CL=R> was at
$13.38. It ended at $14.46 on Wednesday. The July/July heating
oil crack spread <0#CL-HO=R> was at $3.46. It ended at $3.26 on
Wednesday.

* The spread between the current front month and the
five-year forward crude contract CLc61 was at $11.78, based
on the July 2014 contract settlement on Wednesday at $76.41.
The spread ended at $12.96 on Wednesday.

MARKET NEWS

* The Energy Information Administration said that for the
week to May 22, crude inventories fell 5.4 million barrels to
363.1 million barrels, against the forecast in a Reuters poll
for a 700,000-barrel drawdown. [EIA/S]

* Crude stocks at the NYMEX delivery hub at Cushing,
Oklahoma, rose 1.1 million barrels to 30.7 million barrels.

* Gasoline stocks fell 600,000 barrels to 203.4 million
barrels, far less than the forecast for a decline of 1.5
million barrels.

* Gasoline demand rose to 9.5 million barrels per day, from
9.2 million bpd the week before, reflecting buying ahead of
last weekend's Memorial Day holiday.

* Distillate supplies rose 300,000 barrels to 120.1 million
barrels, against the forecast for a build of 1.1 million
barrels.

* Refinery runs jumped 3.3 percentage points to 85.1
percent of capacity, dwarfing the forecast for a rise of 0.4
percentage point.

* The American Petroleum Institute said Wednesday domestic
crude stocks fell 2.8 million barrels last week, gasoline
stocks dropped 758,000 barrels and distillate stocks rose 1.4
million barrels.

* U.S. natural gas storage rose 106 billion cubic feet last
week, the EIA said, against the forecast in a Reuters poll for
a 108 bcf build. [ID:PRWP154].

* The number of U.S. workers filing new claims for jobless
pay dropped by 13,000 last week, the Labor Department reported,
but continued claims hit a new record. [ID:nN28314799]

* U.S. durable goods orders rose more than expected in
April, posting their biggest gain in 16 months.
[ID:nN27221554]

* Wall Street rose as higher oil prices lifted shares of
major oil companies, reversing an earlier decline due to lower
home sales data. [.N]

* Sales of newly built U.S. single-family homes rose
slightly less than expected in April, a government report
showed, and the previous month's figures were revised downward
to show a steeper fall. [ID:nLS258119]

* The U.S. dollar pared losses against the euro after the
U.S. housing data. [USD/]

* OPEC Secretary-General Abdullah al-Badri said U.S. demand
had started to pick up and OPEC was "seeing demand in China and
India and Asia as a whole." [ID:nLAE000031]
(Reporting by Gene Ramos and Robert Gibbons; Editing by Walter
Bagley)