Aug 18 (Reuters) – US crude oil and gasoline stockpiles were expected to have fallen last week, while distillate inventories likely, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.
Five analysts polled by Reuters ahead of weekly inventory data estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 1.6 million barrels in the week to August 15.
The poll was conducted ahead of weekly reports from the American Petroleum Institute at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) on Tuesday, and the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the US Department of Energy, at 10:30 a.m. EDT (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.
Crude inventories rose by 3 million barrels to 426.7 million barrels in the week ended August 8, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 275,000-barrel draw.
Analysts estimated distillate inventories which include diesel and heating oil, increased by about 400,000 barrels last week, while gasoline stockpiles USOILG=ECI fell by about 1 million barrels.
The rate of refinery utilization was estimated to be down 0.3 percentage point from 96.4 percent of total capacity in the previous week, the poll found. All figures for stocks are in millions of barrels. Refinery rate changes are measured in percentage points.
