Energy Information Administration will report inventories at 10:30 a.m. Eastern By Polya Lesova, MarketWatch FRANKFURT (MarketWatch) -- Oil futures traded above $77 a barrel on Wednesday, continuing to rise on optimism about the pace of the global economic recovery, as traders awaited government data on petroleum inventories. Crude oil for March delivery gained 36 cents, or 0.5%, to $77.59 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. The contract earlier rose to an intraday high of $78.06 a barrel. Over the last two sessions, oil prices have gained nearly $5, recouping half of their decline in January. The gains are "largely driven by economic optimism and reduced risk aversion," said analysts at Commerzbank AG in a note to clients. "The renewed price increase, however, cannot be explained from a fundamental perspective. The market continues to be well-supplied with oil," they said. Traders received more evidence of that late Tuesday, when the American Petroleum Institute reported that U.S. crude supplies rose by 4.7 million barrels during the week ended Jan. 29. Gasoline stocks dropped 1.16 million barrels and distillate supplies declined by 1 million barrels, the API also said. The Energy Information Administration will release its inventory report at 10:30 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday. Analysts polled by Platts expect a decline of 1 million barrels in crude stocks and an increase of 1.5 million barrels for gasoline stocks. They also project a decline of 1.2 million barrels in middle distillate inventories. Refinery utilization is expected to rise 0.25 of a percentage point to 78.75%. Also on Globex, March reformulated gasoline gained 2 cents to $2.04 a gallon and March heating oil rose 1 cent to $2.04 a gallon. March natural-gas futures rose 7 cents, or 1.4%, to $5.53 per million British thermal units.

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