Special report: Oil price breaks $70 mark as Iran nuke tension simmers

   NEW YORK, April 17 (Xinhua) -- World crude oil prices closed at record highs Monday, amid worries of supply in Iran and Nigeria.

    New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, added 1.08 dollars to close at 70.40 dollars a barrel, its highest closing price since 1983, after touching intra-day high of 70.45 dollars, the highest intraday price since Aug. 31.

    On London's ICE Futures exchange, the price of Brent North Sea crude for June delivery climbed 89 cents to 71.46 dollars a barrel, its record high since 1988, after hitting 71.62 a barrel, a record intraday price.

    On the New York Mercantile Exchange, the heating oil rose 3.98 cent to 2.0229 dollars a gallon as gasoline futures was up 6.18 cents to 2.1697 dollars per gallon. Natural gas futures was up 15 cents to 7.28 dollars per 1,000 cubic feet.

    Traders are still concerned about the possibilities that Iran's oil exports would halt if the United Nations imposes Teheran an international sanction for its nuclear activities. Iran vowed on Monday to keep on enriching uranium despite international demand that it freeze its controversial nuclear program, the official IRNA news agency reported.

    Meanwhile, about one-fourth of Nigeria's daily output is still shut after a series of militant attacks. Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer and the fifth-biggest source of U.S. oil imports.

    The U.S. Energy Department said Wednesday in its weekly report that inventories of gasoline shrank by 3.9 million barrels to 207.9 million barrels. The U.S. gasoline consumption increases between Memorial Day in late May and Labor Day in early September as motorists take to the highways for summer vacations. More than 10 percent of the world's crude oil is used to make gasoline for U.S. consumers. Enditem