U.S. crude oil stockpiles and product inventories likely fell last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

Four analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 2.3 million barrels in the week to July 14.

Crude inventoriesUSOILC=ECI rose by 5.9 million barrels in the week to July 7 to 458.1 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 500,000-barrel rise.

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 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 were down by about 2.1 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, decreased by about 100,000 barrels.

The rate of refinery utilization USOIRU=ECI was seen 0.3 percentage point higher from 93.7% of total capacity for the week ended July 7, the poll found.

All figures for stocks are in millions of barrels. Refinery runs change is measured in percentage points.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Rahul Paswan in Bengaluru; Editing by Christina Fincher)