U.S. crude oil stockpiles were expected to have fallen last week while gasoline and distillate inventories likely rose, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

Four analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 2.1 million barrels in the week to Nov. 29.

The poll was conducted ahead of a report from the American Petroleum Institute industry group at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT) on Tuesday and one from the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, at 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) on Wednesday.

Crude inventories fell by 1.8 million barrels to 428.4 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 22, the EIA said, about three times a 605,000-barrel draw forecast in a Reuters poll.

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline rose by about 700,000 barrels last week, while distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, were expected to have increased by about 2.3 million barrels.

The rate of refinery utilization was estimated to have increased by 0.2 percentage point from 90.5% of total capacity in the previous week, the poll found.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Anmol Choubey in Bengaluru; editing by Jonathan Oatis)