American Petroleum Institute will release a report on inventories this afternoon By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures rose above $72 a barrel on Wednesday, as investors awaited data expected to show a decline in U.S. crude inventories. Crude oil for August delivery gained 24 cents, or 0.3%, to $72.22 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The contract earlier hit an intraday high of $72.38 a barrel. "The energy market is struggling for some direction," given global economic uncertainty and nervous trading conditions, said analysts at Sucden Financial in a note. "Investors are likely to remain cautious and wait for clarification from the global equity markets and currency movements," they said. "The inventories report later today could provide some light in the short term." The American Petroleum Institute will report supply data at 4:30 p.m. Eastern. The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its inventories report on Thursday morning. Both reports are delayed one day because of the Fourth of July holiday. Analysts polled by Platts expect the data to show a 3.5-million-barrel decline in U.S. commercial crude oil stocks for the week ended July 2. They also project an increase of 1.3 million barrels in gasoline stocks and a build-up of 1.9 million barrels in distillate stocks. Refinery utilization, or the run rate, is expected to be unchanged at 88.4%. U.S. stock futures pointed to a lower opening on Wall Street, as European equity markets posted broad losses.

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