CRUDE oil rose to a near record US$120 a barrel after BP shut a North Sea pipeline and as an oil workers' strike and rebel attacks cut output from Nigeria.

BP closed the Forties Pipeline System, carrying 40 percent of the UK's oil production, after a strike at the Grangemouth refinery cut power supplies. A walkout by Exxon Mobil workers entered a fifth day in Nigeria, where production has dropped 50 percent since Friday.

"The drivers for oil to go to US$130 are still intact," Andy Sommer, an analyst with HSH Nordbank in Hamburg, told Bloomberg News. "We have the refinery strike in Scotland and the market is more nervous now that attacks will continue in Nigeria."

Crude oil for June delivery rose as much as US$1.41, or 1.2 percent, to US$119.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since 1983. It was at US$119.06 at 1:31pm in London.

Oil has risen 82 percent in the last year as demand has increased in China, India and the Middle East against a background of constrained supply. Chakib Khelil, president of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, said on Saturday that the group won't consider raising production before its September meeting.

Investors have moved to commodities as a hedge against the dollar as it fell to a record low against the euro, and as an alternative to flagging equities markets.

Brent crude for June settlement rose as much as US$1.16, or 1 percent, to US$117.50 a barrel on London's ICE Futures Europe exchange and was trading at US$116.75 a barrel at 1:31pm in London. It reached a record US$117.56 on Friday.

Refinery production at Grangemouth is to resume today.

Oil grades from the North Sea and Nigeria, Africa's biggest producer, are low in sulfur and favored by refiners.

Nigeria is losing about 50 percent of its output after staff at Exxon Mobil Corp's operations went on strike on Thursday over pay and conditions and militants attacked a Royal Dutch Shell pipeline later the same day.