Highlights Refinery utilization seen higher, distillate stocks likely up Crude exports seen around 2.9 million b/d: Platts Analytics Gasoline demand expected to soften The weekly streak of US crude oil inventory draws likely extended to eight for the week ended July 9 amid the busier summer driving season and an expected uptick in refinery demand, analysts surveyed by S&P Global Platts said July 12. Total US commercial crude oil stocks likely declined by 4.9 million barrels to 440.6 million barrels, analysts said. The draw would leave stocks nearly 7% behind the five-year average of US Energy Information Administration data and the lowest since the week ended Jan. 31, 2020. The eight-week streak of declines would leave stocks down by nearly 50 million barrels from mid-May. The draw comes as refinery utilization is expected to average roughly 92.5% of capacity, up more than 0.3 percentage point from the week prior […]