U.S. crude oil and product inventories were seen declining last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

Crude inventories fell 4.6 million barrels in the week to April 14 to 466 million barrels, more than quadruple analysts’ expectations for a 1.1 million-barrel drop.

The poll was conducted ahead of reports from the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, due at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) on Tuesday, and the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, due at 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline USOILG=ECI fell by about 1.5 million barrels last week, while distillate USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, decreased by about 1.0 million barrels.

The rate of refinery utilization USOIRU=ECI was seen 0.4 percentage point higher from 91.0% of total capacity for the week ended April 14, the poll found.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ananya Bajpai in Bengaluru Editing by Marguerita Choy)