LONDON, 19 January 2006 — Oil prices were mixed yesterday, after nearing four-month peaks on heightened worries over crude supplies in Nigeria and Iran, dealers said.

New York’s main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, gained 19 cents to $66.50 per barrel in pit trading, after earlier striking $66.93 -- the highest level since Sept. 22. The contract had jumped $2.39 on Tuesday to close at $66.31, the best finish since September 29.

In London yesterday, the price of Brent North Sea crude for March delivery eased 24 cents to $64.66 per barrel in electronic dealing. It earlier hit $65.52, last seen Sept. 22.

Dealers said that rising concerns about supply threats in Nigeria, where separatists have called on oil companies to leave the key delta region, and in Iran, facing possible UN sanctions over its nuclear program, had supported prices.

New York crude futures are over four dollars away from historic high of $70.85 per barrel, reached on Aug. 30, 2005 after Hurricane Katrina devastated US Gulf Coast energy installations. London’s Brent contract is over three dollars away from its record of $68.89, set the same day.

“Crude futures were higher (yesterday) as Nigerian militants said they have attacked more oil facilities and plan to attack even more,” analysts at the Sucden brokerage said.

Nigerian militants said they had attacked facilities run by French group Total and Italy’s Agip, and have also threatened those operated by US giant Chevron.

Five soldiers were killed and nine were missing after militants attacked an oil flowstation belonging to Anglo-Dutch oil giant Shell in southern Nigeria, an army spokesman said Wednesday.

Security agents were on the trail of the killers and those who had last week kidnapped four foreign oilmen and sabotaged a Shell pipeline, he added.

The crisis in Nigeria has seen Shell cut its production by 211,000 barrels of oil per day, more than eight percent of the country’s total output.

Nigeria is the world’s sixth-biggest exporter of crude, while Iran is the second-biggest producer within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.