U.S. crude stockpiles were expected to have fallen last week, while distillate and gasoline inventories likely rose, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

Three analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 2.6 million barrels in the week to Dec. 22.

The poll was conducted ahead of reports from the American Petroleum Institute industry group, due at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT) on Wednesday, and the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, due at 11:00 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) on Thursday, delayed by a day due to the Christmas holiday on Monday.

Crude inventories USOILC=ECI rose by 2.9 million barrels in the week to Dec. 15 to 443.7 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.3 million-barrel drop.

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline USOILG=ECI were up by about 400,000 barrels last week, and distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, were seen increasing by about 1 million barrels.

The rate of refinery utilization USOIRU=ECI was expected to increase 0.4 percentage point from 92.4% 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 Rosalba O’Brien)