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

Four analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 1.9 million barrels in the week to Dec. 13.

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 1.4 million barrels to 422 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 6, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 901,000-barrel draw.

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline USOILG=ECI rose by about 1.6 million barrels last week, while distillate inventories USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, were expected to have decreased by about 500,000 barrels.

The rate of refinery utilization USOIRU=ECI was estimated to have increased by 0.2 percentage point from 92.4% 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.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Anmol Choubey in Bengaluru; Editing by David Gregorio)