By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures traded above $76 a barrel on Wednesday, as the International Energy Agency reduced its demand forecast and analysts awaited data that are expected to show a rise in U.S. crude-oil inventories. Crude for June delivery gained 34 cents to $76.71 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex, erasing its earlier losses. The contract ended down 0.6% on Tuesday. The Energy Information Administration will release its report on inventories at 10:30 a.m. Eastern. Analysts polled by Platts expect an increase of 1.7 million barrels in crude supplies for the week ended May 7. Traders will also be looking to see if inventories again increased at Cushing, Okla., the delivery point for crude futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. They also forecast a rise of 850,000 barrels in gasoline supplies and a buildup of 1.28 million barrels in distillate inventories. Refinery utilization is expected to drop by 0.09 percentage point to 89.51%. IEA lowers demand forecast The International Energy Agency revised lower by 220,000 barrels a day its forecast for global oil demand for 2010. Oil demand in 2010 is estimated to grow from 2009 by 1.9%, or 1.6 million barrels a day, to 86.4 million barrels a day. Crude-oil demand has been stronger than anticipated in North America and the Pacific, but somewhat weaker in Asia and the Middle East. "As made clear by Greece's financial travails, the economic recovery is at risk of drowning in an ocean of public debt, at least in some OECD countries," the Paris-based IEA warned in its monthly report. Elsewhere on Globex, gold futures surged above $1,245 an ounce, extending their gains after ending at a record in the previous session. Read more on gold.

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