NEW YORK, Oct. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Crude oil futures moved to a new high Monday as oil workers joined a four-day national strike in Nigeria and some production shutdowns in the Gulf of Mexico could last as long as six months.

     On the New York Mercantile Exchange, crude oil for November delivery rose 33 cents to end at 53.64 dollars a barrel. Meanwhile, the November Brent crude-oil futures contract climbed 95 cents to settle at 50.66 dollars a barrel on London's International Petroleum Exchange.

     On Monday, Nigeria's senior oil workers' union joined a four-day national strike. While the oil workers' union said it wouldn't cut production during the protests, the market remained very concerned because the strike took place amid threats by a popular rebel leader's pledge to take back the rich Niger Delta oil fields if peace talks with the government failed. Nigeria pumped about 2.5 million barrels per day and its low-sulfur crude oil was particularly desirable by American and other refiners.

     Traders were also keeping their eyes on the slow recovery of production in the Gulf, where 17 million barrels of oil output had been lost since Hurricane Ivan swept across early September. The major problem was that 10 large pipelines in the region that transported oil and natural gas remained shut down, and some experts said the entire repair work could take as long as six months.

     While US Treasury Secretary John Snow said that he had received assurances from Arab oil-producing nations that they would do their best by increasing supply as the Northern hemisphere winter approached, these promises didn't influence over traders who were focused more on the Nigerian situation.  Enditem

London oil prices breach 50 US dollar for first time

Oil prices on the London market broke through the 50 US dollars per barrel level for the first time during Monday morning trading. (Xinhua/AFP Photo)

    LONDON, Oct. 11 (Xinhuanet) -- Oil prices on the London market broke through the 50 US dollars per barrel level for the first time during Monday morning trading.

    The price of Brent crude on London's International Petroleum Exchange, the benchmark for European imports of Middle Eastern, Russian and African crude, hit 50.22 US dollars a barrel, up 51 cents on the day and 20 US dollars higher than at the start of the year.

    Meanwhile, US light crude hit a new high of 53.63 US dollars a barrel, up 30 cents.

    Continued high global demand of crude oil and the deteriorating security situation in Nigeria coupled with the aftermath of hurricane Ivan in the oil producing Gulf of Mexico were considered the main forces behind the spiralling price trend.

    Although top world exporter Saudi Arabia reiterated it could pump an extra 1.5 million barrels per day if required, oil traders said extra Saudi supplies of its high-sulphur crude will do little to help.

    Industrialized nations lack high-tech refinery capacity to process OPEC's low-quality crude into transportation and heating fuels. This has forced refiners to bid up prices for higher quality supplies from Africa and the North Sea.

    As winter approaches, fears of insufficient supplies to meet heating demand are driving a strong push for sweet, distillate-rich crudes in the hope of building a sufficient stock cushion, traders said.

    Prices in the short term seem likely to continue rising given the market's bullish sentiment, the looming oil strike in Nigeria and the lowest US oil production in September for 54 years, analysts said. Enditem