LONDON, Sept 28 (AFP) - World oil prices surged into new record territory above 50 dollars a barrel Tuesday as traders took fright at a multitude of supply threats, including unrest in Nigeria and recent hurricane damage.
An armed group accused of trafficking in illegally extracted crude in Nigeria threatened to attack international oil facilities and personnel in the troubled Niger Delta region, a regional government spokesman said.
In New York the price of light sweet crude for November delivery climbed to 50.47 dollars per barrel in electronic trading, the highest level in the 21-year history of oil futures trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Prices were quoted later at 50.38 dollars per barrel, showing a rise of 74 cents on Monday`s record closing level.
Prices soared on factors including unrest in major oil producers Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, recent hurricanes in the United States, violence in Iraq and the financial woes of Russian energy giant Yukos, traders said.
"It`s all about supply disruptions, not just in the Middle East but also in Nigeria, in the Gulf of Mexico or in Russia," said Commerzbank energy analyst David Thomas.
"On top of that, we have ever-tighening inventories with the further forecast of crude stocks being down again in the US because of the hurricane activity," he added.
In London the price of reference Brent North Sea crude oil for delivery in November hit a new summit of 46.80 dollars in electronic trading, the highest level since trading on the London market began in 1980.
Prices later stood at 46.73 dollars in early trading, a rise of 80 cents.
Crude oil futures had smashed the 50-dollar barrier for the first time in after-hours New York trading on Monday.
Adjusted for inflation, world oil prices remain far below the levels reached in the wake of the 1979 Iranian revolution when prices surged to about 80 dollars a barrel in today`s money.
But prices have more than doubled from about 20 dollars a barrel in New York at the start of 2002, surging by about 50 percent since the start of this year.
In Nigeria the Niger Delta People`s Volunteer Force, led by Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, said in a statement late Monday it would launch an "all-time war against Nigeria" from October 1.
It advised oil majors to leave the delta, which pumps all of Nigeria`s 2.3 million barrels per day production.
Oil giant Shell has already evacuated 200 non-essential workers from the Niger Delta oil region.
Nigeria is a major supplier to the United States, producing light sweet crude which is in high demand at the moment.
Sabotage attacks on Iraqi pipelines and recent fighting between suspected Islamist militants and security forces in Saudi Arabia, where a French citizen was shot dead at the weekend, have only added to market jitters.
Recent hurricanes that have disrupted production, imports and refining in the US Gulf of Mexico, which accounts for 25 percent of US supplies, have driven US oil inventories down to the lowest levels since February.
Traders will be on tenterhooks ahead of the latest weekly report of US commercial oil stocks due to be published on Wednesday, analysts said.
"The market is nervous," said Thomas, "and if you have inventory data showing another fall in heating oil inventories in the US, that will push prices higher even at these high levels."
Traders are concerned about whether there will be adequate heating oil supplies going into the northern hemisphere winter.
"Production in the Gulf of Mexico is still waiting to come back on after the hurricane and it may take a litle while to do so," said Thomas.