U.S. crude oil and product inventories were seen falling last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed.

Six analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 1.4 million barrels in the week to March 17.

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 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 rose by 1.6 million barrels in the week to March 10 to 480.1 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.2 million-barrel rise.

Distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, were expected to have decreased by about 1.5 million barrels last week.

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline fell by about 1.4 million barrels last week.

The rate of refinery utilization was seen 0.9 percentage point higher from 88.2% of total capacity for the week ended March 10, 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 Cynthia Osterman)