Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil stocks likely fell by nearly 7 million barrels last week, with deficits in distillates as well while stockpiles of gasoline rose, amid intensive production cuts by Saudi Arabia, petroleum industry group API indicated in a preliminary report on Tuesday ahead of official inventory data.
The U.S. crude inventory balance possibly dipped by 6.195M barrels during the week ended Aug 11, according to the API, or American Petroleum Institute.
The petroleum industry group reported a crude build of 4.067M barrels in the prior week to Aug 4.
The API numbers serve as a precursor to official inventory data on the same due from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, on Wednesday.
In the previous week, the EIA reported a record crude build of 5.851M barrels, underscoring Saudi Arabia’s claims that it has taken an additional million barrels per day off its production since the start of July. The Saudis have pledged to keep up with such cuts through September.
Along with the broader crude stockpile gain it reported for last week, the API cited a slide of 1.0M barrels last week at the Cushing, Oklahoma hub that takes delivery of U.S. crude. In the prior week, the API reported a Cushing deficit of 0.112M barrels.
Distillates stocks down too, but those of gasoline jump
On the fuels side, API reported a gasoline gain of 0.7M barrels and a distillate stock slide of 0.8M barrels. In the previous week, it noted a 0.413M barrel draw for gasoline and 2.093M deficit for distillates.
With the API report out, anticipation builds on what the EIA will cite for last week’s oil supply-demand in the United States, and how that will impact crude prices that have been rallying the past six weeks.
For last week, analysts tracked by Investing.com expect the EIA to report a crude stockpile drop of 2.050 million barrels, versus the 5.851M barrel rise reported during the week to Aug 4.
On the gasoline inventory front, the consensus is for a draw of 1.6M barrels on top of the 2.661M-barrel decline in the previous week. Automotive fuel gasoline is the No. 1 U.S. fuel product.
With distillate stockpiles, the expectation is for a drop of 0.4M barrels versus the prior week’s deficit of 1.706M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships and fuel for jets.