December 24, 2024 [Reuters]- U.S. crude oil and fuel stockpiles are expected to have fallen last week, a preliminary Reuters poll showed on Monday.

Three analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 2 million barrels in the week to Dec. 20.

The poll was conducted ahead of a report from the American Petroleum Institute industry group at 4:30 p.m. EST (2130 GMT) on Tuesday and one from the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) on Friday.

The EIA’s weekly report, which is usually released on Wednesday, is delayed until Friday due to the Christmas holiday.

Crude inventories fell by 934,000 barrels to 421 million barrels in the week ended Dec. 13, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.6-million-barrel draw.

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline fell by about 2.7 million barrels last week, while distillate inventories, which include diesel and heating oil, were expected to have decreased by about 1.1 million barrels.

The rate of refinery utilization was estimated to have decreased by 0.4 percentage point from 91.8% of total capacity in the previous week, the poll found.

All figures for stocks are in millions of barrels. Refinery-rate changes are measured in percentage points.

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