POLL U.S. crude stockpiles seen higher, fuel draws down last week

The Valero St. Charles oil refinery is seen during a tour of the refinery in Norco
The Valero St. Charles oil refinery is seen in Norco, Louisiana August 15, 2008. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton/File Photo

Aug 9 (Reuters)- U.S. crude oil stockpiles likely rose last week, while distillate and gasoline inventories fell, an extended Reuters poll showed on Tuesday.

Nine analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories rose by around 100,000 barrels in the week to Aug 5.

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 (USOILC=ECI) rose by 4.5 million barrels in the week to July 29 to 426.6 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 600,000-barrel drop. read more

Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline (USOILG=ECI)fell by about 600,000 barrels last week.

Distillate inventories (USOILD=ECI), which include diesel and heating oil, were expected to have dipped 700,000 barrels last week.

The rate of refinery utilization (USOIRU=ECI) was seen up 0.7 percentage point from 91% of total capacity for the week ended July 29, the poll found.

All figures for fuel stocks are in millions of barrels. Refinery runs change is measured in percentage points.

Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru Editing by Marguerita Choy

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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