U.S. crude stockpiles were expected to have risen last week, while distillate and gasoline inventories fell, a preliminary Reuters poll showed.

Four analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories were up by about 1.6 million barrels in the week to Oct. 20.

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.

Crude inventories fell by 4.5 million in the week ended Oct. 13 to 419.7 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 300,000-barrel drop.

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline were down by about 1.7 million barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, were seen decreasing by about 1.6 million barrels.

The rate of refinery utilization was expected to increase 0.5 percentage point from 86.1% of total capacity in the previous week, 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 Barbara Lewis)