U.S. crude oil and product inventories were expected to have fallen last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.
Four analysts polled by Reuters estimated, on average, that crude inventories fell by about 3 million barrels in the week to Aug. 23.
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. EDT (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels to 426 million barrels in the week ended Aug. 16, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 2.7 million-barrel draw.
Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline (USOILG=ECI), opens new tab fell by about 1.6 million barrels last week, while distillate inventories (USOILD=ECI), opens new tab, which include diesel and heating oil, were expected to have decreased by 1.1 million barrels.
The rate of refinery utilization (USOIRU=ECI), opens new tab was estimated to have increased by 0.3 percentage point from 92.3% of total capacity in the previous week, the poll found.
Source: Reuters