By Barani Krishnan
Investing.com - U.S. crude stockpiles unexpectedly fell last week against expectations for a build, but gasoline inventories continued to build, according to data from industry group American Petroleum Institute, or API.
The API numbers come ahead of official inventory data for the week to Jan. 28, due from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, on Wednesday.
Crude stocks fell by 1.645 million barrels last week, the API data showed.
Analysts tracked by Investing.com expect the EIA to report that crude inventories rose by 1.52 million barrels last week on top of the previous week’s build of 2.38 million barrels.
Gasoline inventories rose by 5.816 million barrels, API said.
The EIA is expected to report that gasoline stocks likely jumped by 1.64 million barrels last week, on top of the previous week’s rise of 1.30 million. Gasoline barrels have ballooned over the past month amid seasonally-weak U.S. demand that contrasted with the rally in oil.
API also said that distillate stocks fell by 2.508 million barrels.
The EIA is expected to report that distillates inventories fell by 1.5 million barrels last week, adding to the previous week’s decline of 2.8 million.