With weekly falls in both the stocks of crude oil and gasoline, the American Petroleum Institute data could give rise to a squeeze in the price of crude Wednesday. For the week to July 27, US crude inventories fell 3.5 million barrels. Although stock levels are still up on the year ago comparison, the weekly fall in stocks was against market expectations. Increasing tension in the Mid-East, along with a step up of Iraqi military action in recent days could help crude squeeze higher. At 0400 GMT, Sept crude on Nymex Access trade waslast up 42 cents from the NY close at $26.77.