U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories were expected to have fallen last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

Four analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 1.7 million barrels in the week to Sept. 22.

The poll was conducted ahead of reports from the American Petroleum Institute industry group, due at 4:30 p.m. EDT (2030 GMT) on Tuesday, and the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, due at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.

Crude inventories USOILC=ECI fell by 2.1 million barrels in week ending Sept. 15 to 418.5 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.2 million-barrel drop.

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline USOILG=ECI were down by about 100,000 barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, were seen down by about 2 million barrels.

The rate of refinery utilization USOIRU=ECI was expected to have been 0.7 percentage point lower than the 91.9% of total capacity in the week ended Sept. 15, the poll found.

All figures for stocks are in millions of barrels. Refinery runs change is measured in percentage points.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Daksh Grover in Bengaluru, Editing by Mark Potter)