US crude, oil product stockpiles seen down last week

U.S. crude oil and fuel inventories were expected to have fallen last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

Five analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 100,000 barrels in the week to Sept. 29.

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 U.S. Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, due at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Wednesday.

Crude inventories USOILC=ECI fell by 2.2 million barrels in the week to Sept. 22 to 416.3 million barrels, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 320,000-barrel drop.

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline USOILG=ECI were down by about 200,000 barrels last week, while distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, were seen decreasing by about 1.2 million barrels.

The rate of refinery utilization USOIRU=ECI was expected to drop 0.2 percentage point from 89.5% 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 Marguerita Choy)