Ahead of the Bell: Drop in crude reserves expected

The Energy Department will likely report a 1.7 million-barrel drop in crude oil reserves on Wednesday for the week ended June 12, according to a survey by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos.

The Energy Information Administration releases its weekly report at 10:30 a.m. EDT.

Platts also expects gasoline stockpiles to fall by 650,000 barrels, distillate stocks to rise by 950,000 barrels and refinery capacity to rise 0.25 percentage point to 86.15 percent.

A reading above or below estimates can influence market trading.

Last Wednesday, the EIA said for the week ended June 5 crude oil inventories dropped by 4.4 million barrels to 361.6 million barrels; gasoline inventories slipped by 1.6 million barrels to 201.6 million barrels; and distillate inventories fell by 300,000 barrels to 149.7 million barrels.

Last week's crude oil figure widely missed the 800,000-barrel boost analysts expected.

After that report, benchmark crude for July delivery rose $1.32 to settle at $71.33 a barrel in trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange after earlier touching an annual high of $71.79.