Three analysts polled by Reuters estimated on average that crude inventories fell by about 3.5 million barrels in the week to Jan. 10.
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 10:30 a.m. EST (1530 GMT) on Wednesday.
Crude inventories fell by 959,000 barrels to 414.6 million barrels in the week ended Jan. 3, the EIA said, compared with analysts’ expectations in a Reuters poll for a draw of 184,000 barrels.
Analysts estimated stockpiles of gasoline rose 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 million barrels.
The rate of refinery utilization was estimated to have decreased by 1 percentage point from 93.3% 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.