NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil futures rose more than $2 per barrel on Wednesday, pushing to a 2009 front-month intraday peak above $62 a barrel as the government reported crude oil and gasoline inventories fell last week.

Crude oil futures had already risen on a weaker dollar, Nigerian unrest, strength in equities and Tuesday's bullish oil inventory report from the American Petroleum Institute.

This week's U.S. refinery fires also helped lift the oil complex, keeping RBOB gasoline futures climbing.

On the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:36 a.m. EDT, front-month July crude was up $1.44, or 2.4 percent, at $61.54 a barrel, after trading from $59.86 to $62.14, a 2009 front-month intraday peak and highest since $62.28 was struck on November 11.

(Reporting by Robert Gibbons)