Oil up as Nigerian militants threaten more attacks

NEW YORK, March 1 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Wednesday as Nigerian militants, who have already forced shut a fifth of the country's crude exports, threatened new attacks on energy installations in the Niger Delta.

U.S. crude futures <CLc1> settled up 56 cents at $61.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, while London Brent <LCOc1> advanced 69 cents to $62.45 a barrel.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, which released six of nine oil worker hostages on Wednesday, said it was concentrating its resources on "one huge crippling blow to the Nigerian oil industry."

The militants said in a statement, "We will commence with attacks in another area of the Niger Delta with an aim to ensuring the total discontinuation of export of onshore crude oil."

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Oil prices jump as Nigeria seeks to free Western hostages

World oil prices surged Thursday as Nigerian officials stepped up efforts to free US and British hostages and head off further rebel assaults on production facilities in the Niger Delta.

Africa's largest oil producer has already lost around 20 percent of its output following a series of attacks by separatist guerrillas on and around the energy giant Shell's Forcados export terminal in the western delta.

Last month, Shell evacuated staff from the region and halted exports totalling 455,000 barrels per day. Several pipelines have been blown up.

On Wednesday, the US major Chevron said it had shut down the nearby Makaraba oil flow station, cutting off a further 13,000 barrels per day, after a crude pipeline sprang an unexplained leak.

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