Friday, May 12 2006 14:17 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New York: Crude oil futures jumped above US$ 73 a barrel on intensified supply worries, after police said gunmen in Nigeria kidnapped at least two foreign oil workers from a bus in a second day of attacks targeting such workers.

The workers were riding on a bus to work in Port Harcourt when they were abducted, Police Commissioner Samuel Adetuyi told The Associated Press. He gave no further details. In Italy, the Foreign Ministry said an Italian and possibly twomore people were kidnapped yesterday in the area in what appeared to be the same incident.

It was the second attack in about 24 hours on foreigners Port Harcourt, where many oil-services companies keep their main Nigerian operations. An unidentified gunman riding a motorcycle Wednesday shot and killed an American riding in a car to work at the offices of the US drilling-equipment maker Baker Hughes Inc.

A new militant movement whose attacks on oil installations have cut more than 20 per cent of Nigeria's of 2.5 million daily barrel production said Tuesday it would target oil workers with fresh attacks. But a spokesman for the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta said in an e-mail to The Associated Press yesterday that the group wasn't responsible for either the slaying or the kidnappings.

Still, the news sent light, sweet crude for June delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange as high as US$ 73.90 a barrel yesterday, before it eased back to settle at USD 73.32, still up US$ 1.19 from its settlement a day earlier.