NEW YORK, April 13 (Xinhua) -- World crude oil prices rose above 69 dollars Thursday before the long weekend, amid worries of supply in Iran and Nigeria.

    New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, added 70 cents to close at 69.32 dollars a barrel, its highest closing price since Sept. 1.

    On London's ICE Futures exchange, the price of Brent North Sea crude for May delivery climbed 71 cents to 70.57 dollars a barrel, its record high since 1988.

    On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the heating oil rose 0.85 cent to 1.9831 dollars a gallon as gasoline futures was up 1.68 cents to 2.1079 dollars per gallon. Natural gas futures was up 32.7 cents to 7.135 dollars per 1,000 cubic feet.

    Traders are still concerned about Iran's nuclear standoff with the international community and violence in Nigeria that has forced the shutdown of more than half a million barrels a day of supply.

    Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani said on Thursday that Iran would not resume suspension of uranium enrichment activities, after talks with UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei.

    The United States appealed to the UN Security Council on Thursday to take measures against Iran which announced early this week to have produced enriched uranium.

    U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday in its weekly report that crude oil reserves increased 3.2 million barrels to 346 million barrels, the highest level in eight years.

    Inventories of gasoline shrank by 3.9 million barrels to 207.9 million barrels. The nation's supply of distillate, which includes diesel and heating oil, fell by 4.2 million barrels in the week to 117.4 million.

    The New York Mercantile Exchange will be closed Friday in observance of Good Friday. Enditem