U.S. commercial crude oil stocks are expected to have risen 3.1 million barrels during the week ended February 13, a Platts analysis and survey of oil analysts showed.The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is scheduled to release its weekly data at 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) Thursday. The weekly data is delayed a day because Monday was a U.S. holiday.

The EIA five-year (2010-14) average shows inventories decreasing about 418,000 barrels for the reporting week.

The U.S. crude oil inventory reached a record 418 million barrels the week ended February 6, according to EIA data that goes back to 1982.

Strong domestic crude oil production, combined with an economic incentive to store crude oil, has propelled stocks higher.

New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) crude oil futures are more expensive for later-dated contracts than prompt delivery, making it potentially profitable for traders to buy and store crude oil.

Analysts expect the refinery utilization rate to drop 0.67 percentage point to 89.3% of operable capacity.

In refinery news, Phillips 66 restarted the crude oil distillation unit (CDU) at its 238,000 barrels per day (b/d) Bayway refinery in Linden, New Jersey. Phillips 66 had shut the CDU for maintenance February 4, a source close to the refinery said earlier.

An unidentified unit at Shell-operated 340,000 b/d Deer Park refinery in Texas experienced an "operational upset" the week ended February 13 linked to a faulty pump seal, a Shell spokesman said without providing more details.

DISTILLATE STOCKS EXPECTED TO FALL

U.S. distillate stocks are expected to have decreased 2.2 million barrels the week ended February 13. EIA's five-year average shows U.S. distillate stocks falling 1.8 barrels over this reporting week.

In refinery news, PBF Energy took offline its coker at its 190,000 b/d Delaware City refinery due to a valve problem, a source familiar with refinery operations said.

Shell began planned maintenance the week ended February 13 on the coker and the CDU at its 145,000 b/d Puget Sound refinery in Washington.

Coking converts heavy feedstock into refined products, including gasoline blendstocks and distillates.

U.S. gasoline stocks are expected to have increased 443,000 barrels the week ended February 13, according to the analysts surveyed. The EIA five-year average shows inventories falling 280,000 barrels in the comparable reporting week.

Marathon Petroleum shut a fluid catalytic cracker (FCC) at its Garyville, Louisiana, refinery for unplanned work.

FCCs convert vacuum gasoil into gasoline and other high-end refined products. An FCC's closure could result in a gasoline stock drawdown, unless imports increase enough to offset production losses.
Source: Platts