Investing.com - US crude stockpiles possibly rose as much as 1.3 million barrels last week, resulting in another build as well at the storage hub tied to the delivery of oil contracts traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange, petroleum trade group API said Tuesday. 

Declines were seen in inventories of gasoline, the premier US motor fuel product, and distillates — a feedstock for diesel and heating fuel, the weekly inventory report from the API, or American Petroleum Institute, showed.

Typically at this time of year, demand for motor fuels is softer in the United States as Americans do less driving with the weather transitioning from fall to winter. But with the refinery industry on seasonal maintenance, larger-than-usual declines in fuel stocks are also common with limited replenishments coming in.

The headline crude build aside, the API noted a second straight weekly inventory gain at the Cushing, Oklahoma storage hub which serves as delivery point for US West Texas Intermediate crude futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. 

Cushing storage levels have dropped drastically this year, prompting concerns they might reach such critical lows to complicate operations at the storage hub. 

Last week, however, the storage hub saw a net gain of 0.375M barrels, adding to the prior week’s build of 0.513M. 

On the fuel side, the petroleum trade group reported a gasoline inventory slide of 0.357M barrels and distillate stock drop of 2.313M barrels. In the prior week, gasoline saw a 4.169-M barrel deficit while distillates experienced a 2.313M drop.

The API data serves as a precursor to official inventory data on the same due from the US Energy Information Administration, or EIA, on Wednesday.