LONDON, May 11: World crude prices rose strongly on Thursday as the kidnapping of three foreign staff in the Nigerian oil city of Port Harcourt added to concerns over global supplies, dealers said.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for June delivery rose 99 cents to $73.43 per barrel in electronic deals.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in June, gained $1.27 to $73.40 in pit trading.

Oil prices, supported already by concerns over Iran’s nuclear crisis and tight motor fuel supplies in the United States, gained momentum on news of the kidnappings, which occurred one day after another foreign worker was shot dead in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest producer of crude.

“We learnt that three foreign oil workers were kidnapped this morning. We don’t have the details,” a spokesman for an oil multinational told AFP, declining to be named.

Prior to the Nigeria news, crude futures had risen owing to refinery problems in the United States, analysts said.—AFP