U.S. commercial crude oil stocks are expected to have grown by 380,000 barrels during the reporting week ended November 28, according to a Platts analysis and a survey of oil analysts.The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to release its weekly data at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) Wednesday.

The EIA five-year average shows inventories falling 690,000 barrels this reporting week, as winter demand picks up and barrels are drawn from storage, a pattern that lasts through the end of December.

Last week's plunge in oil prices raises the question of whether inventories might grow as storage plays become economically attractive. Conversely, as long as refiners are facing positive margins, an incentive still exists to burn crude oil rather than store it.

U.S. crude oil stocks are at healthy levels compared with recent historical standards. At 383 million barrels on November 21, crude oil stocks were 6.6% above the EIA five-year average for the same reporting week.

Analysts expect U.S. refinery utilization rates to have increased 0.50 percentage point to 92% of operable capacity.

Crude oil runs have risen for four straight weeks, reaching 15.957 million barrels per day (b/d) the week ended November 21, which is near the 16 million-plus b/d seen from late June through mid-September.

DISTILLATE STOCKS SEEN FALLING

U.S. distillate stocks are expected to have fallen by 1.25 million barrels the week ended November 28, bucking the EIA's five-year average trend, which shows stocks increasing by 1.37 million barrels in the comparable reporting week.

U.S. gasoline stocks likely were unchanged the week ended November 28, according to the analysts surveyed. The EIA five-year average shows inventories rising by 3.9 million barrels in the comparable reporting week.

At 206.4 million barrels the week ended November 21, U.S. gasoline stocks were 1.2% below the EIA five-year average.

Gasoline stocks on the U.S. Atlantic Coast -- home to the New York Harbor-delivered New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) RBOB contract -- totaled 49.5 million barrels, 6.1% below the EIA five-year average.
Source: Platts