LONDON, Aug 9 (AFP) - World oil prices reversed early losses on Monday to climb towards record high levels amid ongoing worries about possible disruptions to supply, traders said.
Brent North Sea crude oil for September delivery climbed 40 cents to 41.03 dollars in afternoon trading in London, below the record high level of 41.50 dollars reached last Friday.
New York`s light, sweet crude for delivery September, which hit a record high point of 44.77 dollars per barrel on Friday, rose 37 cents to 44.32 dollars in pre-opening electronic dealing.
"The market started with the normal profits-taking this morning as nothing disastrous has happened during the weekend," Prudential Bache trader Christopher Bellew said.
"But it began to go up as there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding Yukos still and Iraqi exports as well.
"It is basically a continuation of the same uncertainties that are pushing prices higher," Bellew said, adding there were rumours of a halt to exports from southern Iraq.
Prices had taken a slight breather earlier Monday on hopes of an increase in official OPEC production quotas and a mooted rescue for Russian energy giant Yukos.
A consortium of Dubai-based investors was said to be backing a 10-billion-dollar (8.1-billion-euro) rescue plan for Yukos, according to Britain`s Sunday Times newspaper.
Yukos faces possible bankruptcy because of a massive tax demand from Russian tax authorities, threatening to interrupt oil deliveries.
Bellew meanwhile said that traders were keeping a nervous watch also on Venezuela ahead of an August 15 referendum there which the opposition hopes will unseat controversial President Hugo Chavez.
The latest opinion polls mostly show a majority of Venezuelans would vote for Chavez to serve the remaining two years of his term.
However, there are fears that unrest and strike action in Venezuela, a major oil exporter to the United States, could disrupt the country`s oil production, as was the case in 2002.
"If Chavez was to return, the oil workers are threatening to strike because they are disatisfied about the way he`s been treating them," Bellew said.