U.S. crude, distillate inventories fall; gasoline stocks jump

DENVER, Jan 23 (Reuters) - U.S. crude and distillate inventories fell last week, while gasoline stocks rose, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said on Thursday.

Crude inventories [USOILC=ECI] fell by 1 million barrels in the week to Jan. 17 to 411.7 million barrels, their ninth consecutive weekly decline, the EIA said. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected a 1.6 million-barrel drop.

Crude stocks at the Cushing, Oklahoma, delivery hub fell by 148,000 barrels, the EIA said.

Crude futures extended losses after the data showed a smaller-than-expected inventory draw. Global benchmark Brent crude was down 70 cents at $78.30 a barrel by 1713 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were down 66 cents at $74.79 a barrel.

Refinery crude runs fell by 1.1 million barrels per day, and utilization rates fell 5.8 percentage points in the week to 85.9%, the EIA said.

Gasoline stocks [USGAS=ECI] rose by 2.3 million barrels in the week to 245.9 million barrels, the EIA said, in line with analysts' forecasts.

Distillate stocks [USOILD=ECI], which include diesel and heating oil, fell by 3.1 million barrels in the week to 128.9 million barrels, versus expectations for a 300,000-barrel increase, the data showed.

Net U.S. crude imports rose by 184,000 barrels per day last week, the EIA said.

(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver; Editing by David Gregorio)