However, American Petroleum Institute reports decline in crude stocks Oil futures fell early Wednesday on expectations that the government will report a rise in crude supplies, even as the American Petroleum Institute said crude stocks declined last week. Crude for June delivery dropped 46 cents, or 0.9%, to $48.11 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. "Expectations of sharply higher oil inventories reflect ongoing concerns about the impact of unusually large refinery shut-ins that are currently taking place due to maintenance and economics shut-ins due to poor refining margins," said analysts at Commerzbank. "However, today's data could also surprise positively after yesterday's API data showed an unexpected drop in crude oil inventories," they said in a note to clients. The API said late Tuesday that crude stocks declined by 1 million barrels during the week ended April 17. The API also reported that gasoline supplies rose by 107,000 barrels and distillate stocks increased by 458,000 barrels. The Energy Information Administration will report its more closely watched data at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Analysts surveyed by Platts expect U.S. crude inventories increased by 3 million barrels last week, rising from their highest level in nearly two decades. They also project a decline of 860,000 barrels in gasoline stocks as well as a drop of 1.25 million barrels in distillate stocks, according to the Platts survey. U.S. stock futures fell on Wednesday to continue a choppy week of trade as Boeing became the latest major firm to lower its 2009 estimates. Also on Globex, May reformulated gasoline fell 1 cent to $1.41 a gallon and May heating oil dropped 1 cent to $1.34 a gallon. May natural gas futures fell 1 cent to $3.50 per million British thermal units.

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