By Jim Jelter, MarketWatch SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Oil and gas stocks swung to the upside Wednesday on predictions of rising global petroleum demand and a broad rebound in equities markets. Early trades sent the NYSE Arca Oil Index (XOI 959.20, +13.41, +1.42%) up 1.2% to 957 points, with all 13 components in positive territory, led by U.S.-traded shares of Spain's Repsol (REP 23.39, +0.75, +3.31%) , which were showing a 3.4% advance to $23.39 on speculation that Russia's Lukoil (LUKO.Y 47.25, +0.10, +0.21%) (UK:LKOH 49.11, -2.59, -5.01%) was making a bid for Repsol's Argentine unit. Lukoil said it is not. The NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index (XNG 465.03, +5.63, +1.23%) was up 1% at 464 and the Philadelphia Oil Service Sector Index (OSX 170.89, +2.74, +1.63%) was ahead 0.3% at 168.8 point. The September crude-oil futures contact was back above $70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, last trading at $70.64, a gain of $1.18 a barrel from Tuesday's close. But prices had retreated from opening highs after the Energy Information Administration reported a slightly larger rise last week in U.S. crude oil inventories than analysts had expected. See Futures Movers. Meanwhile, the International Energy Agency in Paris predicted global oil demand is again on the rise, led by the economic rebound in Asia - especially China. The IEA revised its previous forecast upward, adding 190,000 barrels a day to its 2009 demand estimate. The revision puts global demand for the full year at an average 83.9 million bpd, which is still 2.7% less than in 2008. But the trend is up, with 2010 consumption likely to hit 85.3 million bpd, the EIA said. See full story. The IEA report closely matches a report Tuesday from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which predicts global oil demand will hit 84.75 million barrels a day, a 520,000-bpd increase over the final quarter of 2008 and the first increase in a year. See full story.

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