UPDATE 1-U.S. oil stocks off; gasoline demand up-EIA

(Adds table, more details, analysts' quotes)

------ API ------ ------ EIA ------

Stocks Change Change Stocks Change Change

02/27/09 from from 02/27/09 from from

pvs wk yr-ago pvs wk yr-ago
Crude 345.7 -0.5 40.0 350.6 -0.7 49.6
Distillate 144.3 1.6 27.3 143.3 1.7 25.0
Gasoline 214.8 -0.6 -8.2 215.5 0.2 -18.0
Heating oil 38.3 0.4 6.5 36.5 0.9 4.4
RFG gasoline 1.3 0.2 0.3 0.9 0.0 0.0
Kerosene 41.4 2.0 2.2 41.7 1.2 1.6
Crude runs (bpd) 14.5 0.3 -0.1 14.3 0.4 -0.5
Refinery runs

(percent) 83.5 1.6 -2.5 83.1 1.7 -2.8
Products supplied

(4 week moving average)----------------19.5 -0.2 -1.0
here

By Haitham Haddadin

NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil inventories fell
unexpectedly last week as refiners ramped up operations to meet recovering
demand for gasoline, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said
Wednesday.

"The big story in the latest EIA data is gasoline demand, which rose
again year-on-year," said Phil Flynn, analyst at Alaron Trading in
Chicago.

Commercial crude oil inventories in the United States fell 700,000
barrels to 350.6 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 27, EIA reported,
countering analysts' forecasts for a build of 1.2 million barrels.

NYMEX crude oil futures jumped 8 percent, topping $45 per barrel.

Gasoline stocks increased 200,000 barrels to 215.5 million barrels
against a forecast draw of 800,000 barrels. Amid a rise in heating oil
supplies, total distillates inventories added 1.7 million barrels to 143.3
million barrels versus forecasts for a 700,000-barrel decrease.

Gasoline output was up 66,000 barrels per day last week at 9.0 million
bpd.

Demand for motor fuel over the past four weeks was 9.03 million bpd, up
2.2 percent from a year ago, but distillates demand was 4.06 million bpd,
down 4.5 percent from a year ago, according to the report.

Crude stocks fell amid a surge in refinery runs by 409,000 bpd as U.S.
refinery utilization was up by 1.7 percentage points at 83.1 percent of
capacity, much larger than the 0.1 percentage point increase forecast by
analysts in a Reuters poll.

"Part of the reason for the crude draw was that refinery utilization
was up more than expected," said Mike Zarembski, analyst at OptionsXpress
in Chicago.

But the 259,000 bpd rise in petroleum imports "surprised" analysts as
"OPEC has been curtailing supplies," he added.

According to American Petroleum Institute's weekly data released on
Tuesday, domestic crude stocks dipped 463,000 barrels last week, gasoline
supplies fell 642,000 barrels and distillates were up 1.6 million barrels.
[ID:nN03609739]
(Additional reporting by Richard Valdmanis, Janet McGurty,
and Gene Ramos; Editing by John Picinich)