April 22, 2008	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1429

NEW YORK, April 21: Crude oil prices hit record highs over $117 a barrel on Monday as rebel attacks cut Nigerian supplies and a Scottish refinery strike threatened North Sea crude production.

Further support came as Opec officials said the market had enough oil and that the producer group would not ramp up output to help bring down prices despite calls for more oil from some consumer nations.

US light crude rose 50 cents to $117.19 a barrel by 2.16pm EDT (1816 GMT), off the record high of $117.60 hit earlier. London Brent crude traded up 16 cents at $114.08 a barrel after hitting an all-time peak of $114.86.

Pipeline attacks in Opec member Nigeria last week shut 169,000 barrels per day (bpd) of Bonny Light production, forcing Royal Dutch Shell Plc to declare force majeure on exports of the crude.—Reuters