Crude oil and gasoline inventories fell last week, distillate stocks rose, EIA says

HOUSTON, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Crude inventories fell by 9.3 million barrels to 415.4 million barrels last week, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 857,000-barrel draw.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub USOICC=ECI fell by 296,000 barrels in the week ended September 12, the EIA said.

Refinery crude runs USOICR=ECI fell by 394,000 barrels per day in the week ended September12, the EIA said, while utilization rates USOIRU=ECI fell by 1.6 percentage points in the week to 93.3%.

U.S. gasoline stocks USOILG=ECI fell by 2.3 million barrels in the week to 217.6 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 0.1 million-barrel build.​

Distillate stockpiles USOILD=ECI, which include diesel and heating oil, rose by 4 million barrels in the week to 124.7 million barrels, versus expectations for a 1 million-barrel rise, the EIA data showed.

Net U.S. crude imports USOICI=ECI fell by 3.11 million barrels per day, EIA said.