Investing.com -- U.S. crude stocks likely fell last week and inventories of gasoline probably slid as well, while those of distillates were expected to have risen, petroleum industry group API indicated in a preliminary report on Tuesday ahead of official inventory data.
The U.S. crude inventory balance fell by 2.408 million barrels during the week ended June 23, according to the API, or American Petroleum Institute. The petroleum industry group reported a crude draw of 1.246M barrels in the prior week to June 16.
Notwithstanding the crude draw, the API cited a build of 1.45M barrels last week at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub that takes delivery of U.S. crude. In the prior week, the API reported a Cushing build of 50,000 barrels.
On the fuels side, API reported a gasoline inventory drop of 2.85M barrels and a distillate stock build of 0.777M barrels. In the previous week, it noted a 2.935M barrel build for gasoline and 0.301M drop for distillates.
EIA seen reporting builds across the board for crude and fuels
The API numbers serve as a precursor to official inventory data on the same due from the U.S. Energy Information Administration on Wednesday.
For last week, analysts tracked by Investing.com expect the EIA to report a crude stockpile build of 1.415M barrels, versus the 3.831M barrel reduction reported during the week to June 16.
On the gasoline inventory front, the consensus is for a build of 1.359M barrels over the 0.479M barrel rise in the previous week. Automotive fuel gasoline is the No. 1 U.S. fuel product.
With distillate stockpiles, the expectation is for a climb of 0.085M barrels versus the prior week’s gain of 0.433M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships and fuel for jets.