The American Petroleum Institute reported Tuesday that U.S. crude supplies fell by 1.3 million barrels for the week ended May 18, according to sources. The API data, however, showed a rise of 980,000 barrels in gasoline stockpiles, while inventories of distillates declined by 1.3 million barrels, sources said. Supply data from the Energy Information Administration will be released Wednesday morning. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts expect the EIA to report a decline of 1.7 million barrels in crude supplies. They also forecast supply declines of 620,000 barrels for gasoline and 1 million barrels for distillates. July crude which became the front-month contract at the day's settlement, was at $72.13 a barrel in electronic trading, down from the contract's $72.20 settlement on the New York Mercantile Exchange.