Oil prices hold above $62 on thinner stock cushion

SINGAPORE, Nov 30 (Reuters) Oil eased for the first time this week on Thursday, but remained near a two-month high above after a surprise drawdown in U.S. winter fuel stocks and signs of solid economic growth in the world's top consumer.

U.S. light crude was 16 cents lower at .30 a barrel at 0803 GMT, slipping back after rising above .50 on Wednesday to its highest since Oct. 2, breaking free of the - rut that has defined prices for two months.

Brent crude was down 15 cents at .92 a barrel.

U.S. inventories of crude oil and refined products fell last week as imports eased and demand was robust, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed.

Distillate stocks, including home heating oil, fell by 1 million barrels last week to 132.8 million barrels, countering forecasts of a 400,000-barrel increase.

Gasoline stock levels dropped by 600,000 barrels to 201.1 million barrels, a level the EIA said was at the low end of the average range for this time of year. Crude oil stocks dropped 300,000 barrels to 340.8 million barrels.

''The unexpected pull on U.S. stock levels was an immediate catalyst for the market to trade up,'' said Andrew Harrington, a natural resource analyst at ANZ Bank in Sydney.

Healthy demand for distillates came despite relatively warmer temperatures in the U.S. Northeast, the country's top heating oil consuming region.

Private weather forecaster AccuWeather said colder temperatures would hit the region by the end of the week.

Prices also rallied on stronger readings of the U.S.

economy, which expanded at a faster-than-expected 2.2 percent clip in the third quarter, according to revised figures. Wall Street had expected a revised growth figure of 1.8 percent.

The market's rally appeared likely to calm some anxieties within OPEC, which meets in two weeks to decide whether or not to deepen the 1.2 million barrels per day (bpd) production cut it imposed from the start of November to halt a 25 percent price slide.

Kuwaiti oil minister Sheikh Ali al-Jarrah al-Sabah told Reuters on Wednesday that prices were ''very comfortable'' and that he saw no need to cut output further.

''In my personal opinion, if prices maintain these levels, I don't imagine that there is a need for a reduction,'' he said.

Despite initial scepticism over how much of OPEC's cuts would be felt, tanker movements suggest the restraints are taking hold.

Consultancy PIRA Energy said that OPEC crude exports had fallen by 1.28 million bpd in the four weeks to Nov. 19 and were 1.7 million bpd below their recent peak in mid-October.

REUTERS CS