Royal Dutch Shell Plc halted output of 455,000 barrels a day in Nigeria after rebels attacked an oil-export terminal and kidnapped nine foreign oil workers two days ago. Militants today reported new attacks on a Shell pipeline and threatened to spread assaults to the entire Niger river delta, the source of most of the country's oil. OPEC is pumping close to capacity, leaving almost no margin to compensate for supply interruptions.

Brent crude oil for April settlement rose $1.53, or 2.6 percent, to $61.42 a barrel at 10:08 a.m. on London's ICE Futures exchange, its highest since Feb. 9. The New York benchmark, West Texas Intermediate, for April rose $1.49 to $62.78 on ICE, reflecting the equivalent contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange, which is closed today for President's Day. Prices on Nymex reached a record $70.85 in August.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo is scheduled to leave office next year, marking the first time since independence in 1960 that a civilian president has relinquished power to another. Some of Obasanjo's supporters are advocating a constitutional amendment to allow him to run for a third term.

Militants blew up a Shell pipeline manifold in Delta state and an abandoned army vessel in an attack at 2 a.m. local time today, said the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND. Shell had no immediate comment on today's claims.

``We are going to continue with the destruction of oil facilities in Delta state while concluding arrangements for our wider attacks on the entire region,'' Jomo Gbomo, a MEND spokesman, said in an e-mailed statement. Bloomberg couldn't immediately confirm the statement's authenticity.

Nigeria produced 2.36 million barrels of oil a day last month, making it the sixth-biggest producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Nations, according to Bloomberg data. It accounts for almost 3 percent of the world's oil and is the fifth- biggest U.S. supplier.

Except for Saudi Arabia, which can increase production by about 1.3 million barrels a day according to Bloomberg data, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries lacks the capacity to pump more. A surge in demand in the past two years has forced producers to increase output to match consumption.

Oil prices have tripled since 2001 as global demand, led by China and the U.S., has risen faster than production. Oil in New York has dropped 12 percent this month as gains in U.S. stockpiles eased concern supplies would run short.

``In the very short term, any disruption from two major producers isn't something that can be offset by any producer,'' said Simon Wardell, an analyst at Global Insight in London.

The Niger Delta movement has targeted Shell installations after alleging the company allowed an airstrip it operates to be used for a Nigerian Air Force helicopter attack on villagers in the region. Shell said it could neither confirm nor deny the field had been used. The Nigerian government said the helicopters were used to disable barges engaged in oil smuggling.

The Nigerian shutdowns may prompt OPEC, the 11-member group that pumps about 40 percent of the world's oil, to decide against cutting output when it meets next month in Vienna, analysts said.

Iranian officials left for Moscow yesterday to discuss a Russian proposal aimed at breaking the deadlock over the Islamic Republic's nuclear research program. Oil rose to $69.20 last month, its highest this year, on concern that the dispute may prompt Iran, OPEC's second-largest producer, to cut shipments.

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