US commercial crude stocks are expected to have decreased 200,000 barrels in the week that ended Friday, a survey of analysts showed Monday. The US Energy Information Administration is scheduled to release its weekly data at 10:30 am EDT (1430 GMT) Wednesday. The EIA five-year (2010-14) average shows inventories fell 270,000 b/d barrels for the same reporting period. Crude stocks typically decrease through the summer until late September, when demand drops because of the autumn refinery turnaround season. However, this year’s refinery activity has slowed down since early August, suggesting an early start to the maintenance period. Crude runs have fallen five weeks in a row. For the week ended September 4, the amount of crude processed equaled 16.1 million b/d, which was 6% below the summer peak of more than 17 million b/d at the end of July. Analysts do not believe refinery activity picked up last week. […]