U.S. crude stockpiles fall more than expected -EIA

(Reuters) - U.S. crude oil and distillate inventories fell last week while gasoline inventories rose unexpectedly, the Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday.

    Crude inventories fell by 4.6 million barrels in the week to April 7 to 466 million barrels, more than quadruple analysts' expectations in a Reuters poll for a 1.1 million-barrel drop.

    Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 1.1 million barrels last week, the EIA said.

    Refinery crude runs rose by 259,000 barrels per day, and refinery utilization rates rose by 1.7 percentage points to 91% of total capacity.

    U.S. gasoline stocks rose by 1.3 million barrels in the week to 223.5 million barrels, the EIA said, compared with analysts' forecasts for a 1.3 million-barrel drop.

    Distillate stockpiles, which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 400,000 barrels in the week to 112.1 million barrels, versus expectations for a 900,000-barrel drop, the EIA data showed.

    Net U.S. crude imports fell by 1.74 million bpd, EIA said.

(Reporting by Laura Sanicola; Editing by Marguerita Choy)