U.S. crude stocks likely fell last week and inventories of distillates slid too, while those of gasoline surged, petroleum industry group API indicated in a preliminary report on Wednesday ahead of official inventory data.

The U.S. crude inventory balance fell by 1.246 million barrels during the week ended June 16, according to the API, or American Petroleum Institute. The petroleum industry group reported a crude build of 1.024M barrels in the prior week to June 9.

Notwithstanding the crude draw, the API cited a minor build of 50,000 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 1.502M barrels.

On the fuels side, API reported a gasoline inventory rise of 2.935M barrels and a distillate stock drop of 0.301M barrels. In the previous week, it noted a 2.075M barrel build for gasoline and 1.394M build for distillates.

EIA seen reporting crude, gasoline build; Slight distillates draw

The API data serves as a precursor to official inventory data on the same due from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or EIA, on Thursday.

For last week, analysts tracked by Investing.com expect the EIA to report a crude stockpile build of 1.873M barrels, versus the 7.919M barrel rise reported during the week to June 9.

On the gasoline inventory front, the consensus is for a rise of 1.091M barrels on top of the 2.108M-barrel gain 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 0.001M barrels versus the prior week’s gain of 2.123M. Distillates are refined into heating oil, diesel for trucks, buses, trains and ships and fuel for jets.