U.S. crude oil and gasoline inventories were seen declining last week, while distillate stockpiles likely rose, a preliminary Reuters poll showed.

Four analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 1.8 million barrels in the week to June 30.

Crude inventories fell by 9.6 million barrels to 453.7 million barrels in the week to June 23, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.8 million-barrel fall.

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 Wednesday, and the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, due at 10:30 a.m. (1430 GMT) on Thursday. Both sets of data are delayed a day by the Independence Day holiday on Tuesday.

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline were down by about 1.1 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, increased by about 500,000 barrels.

The rate of refinery utilization was seen 0.2 percentage point higher from 92.2% of total capacity for the week ended June 23, the poll found.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru; Editing by Christina Fincher)