U.S. crude stocks plunge 11M barrels last week; fuel stocks up - API 

Investing.com -- U.S. crude oil stocks likely fell by more than 11 million barrels last week while inventories of gasoline and distillates rose, petroleum industry group API said in a preliminary report Tuesday, as refiners maxed output ahead of the Labor Day holiday that typically marks the peak of summer driving.

The U.S. crude inventory balance possibly dipped by 11.486M barrels during the week ended Aug 25, according to the API, or American Petroleum Institute. 

The petroleum industry group reported a crude stockpile draw of 2.418M barrels in the prior week to Aug 18.

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. 

Along with the broader crude stockpile decline it reported for last week, the API cited a slide of 2.23M 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 2.21M barrels.

On the fuels side, API reported a gasoline build of 1.4M barrels and a distillate stock gain of 2.46M barrels. In the previous week, it noted a 0.153M barrel draw for gasoline and 1.898M 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 fell for the first time last week after a seven-week rally.

For last week, analysts tracked by Investing.com expect the EIA to report a crude stockpile drop of 2.921 million barrels, versus the 6.135M-barrel reduction reported during the week to Aug. 18.

On the gasoline inventory front, the consensus was for a build of 1.234M over the 1.467M increase 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 0.045M barrels versus the prior week’s gain of 0.945M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships and fuel for jets.