U.S. crude oil stocks jump; distillates down - EIA

* Crude oil stocks up much more than expected; confirm API

* Crude oil imports up, refinery runs off

* Distillates inventories off, gasoline up

NEW YORK, March 3 (Reuters) - U.S. crude oil stockpiles rose more than forecast last week as imports were still rising while distillate fuel inventories fell, U.S. Energy Information Administration data showed on Wednesday.

Gasoline stocks rose in line with forecasts.

Commercial crude oil stockpiles in the United States increased by 4.1 million barrels to 341.6 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 26, EIA reported. Industry group data on Tuesday also showed a larger-than-forecast rise.

Analysts polled by Reuters earlier this week had projected crude oil inventories would show a build of 1.4 million barrels.

Crude stocks were up for a fifth consecutive week as imports of crude continued to rise, showing a gain of 152,000 barrels per day last week, according to the report.

Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel, dropped 900,000 barrels to 151.8 million barrels, falling for a fifth week in a row and matching analysts' forecasts.

Domestic gasoline inventories gained 700,000 barrels to 231.9 million barrels. Analysts had projected an increase of 600,000 barrels.

Crude runs fell 33,000 bpd to 14.07 million bpd.

But U.S. refineries were at a 81.9 percent utilization rate, up 0.7 percentage point compared with analysts forecasts for a fall of 0.1 percentage point.

According to data from the American Petroleum Institute on Tuesday, crude inventories in the world's biggest oil consumer rose by 2.7 million barrels last week. Gasoline inventories increased 909,000 barrels while distillates fell 4.1 million barrels, according to the trade group. [API/S] (Reporting by Haitham Haddadin; Editing by John Picinich)