us commercial crudeoil stockpiles are expected to have risen slightly from the previous week in data due thursday from the energy department according to a survey of analysts and traders by the wall street journal estimates from 11 analysts and traders showed us oil inventories are projected to have increased by 400000 barrels for the week ended dec 30 with four analysts forecasting a decline and seven predicting an increase forecasts range from a decrease of 4 million barrels to an increase of 4 million barrels analysts noted the likely increase would be partly because of another transfer of crude last week from the nations strategic petroleum reserve to the commercial side the yearlong spr sales by the us government aim to boost supplies to reduce gasoline prices at the pump but the sales are winding down and the government may soon start repurchasing crude to refill the spr the closely watched survey from the does energy information administration is scheduled for release at 11 am est thursday a day later than normal due to the christmas holiday gasoline stockpiles are expected to increase by 200000 barrels from the previous week according to analysts estimates range from a decline of 21 million barrels to an increase of 5 million barrels stocks of distillates which is mostly diesel fuel are expected to fall by 600000 barrels from the previous week forecasts range from a decrease of 36 million barrels to an increase of 39 million barrels refinery use likely decreased by 27 percentage points from the previous week to 893 as extremely cold weather caused some disruptions forecasts range from a 75 percentagepoint decrease to a 08 percentagepoint increase two analysts didnt make a forecast note numbers in millions of barrels with the exception of refinery use which is in percentage points