Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil traded near a record close of $53.31 a barrel after a storm in the Gulf of Mexico shut the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port for a third time in a month and as Nigerian oil workers joined a general strike.

Tropical storm Matthew shut the port, which handles 10 percent of U.S. imports, on Oct. 8. The Nigeria Labour Congress, the country's biggest union, began a four-day strike in protest at rising fuel prices in the world's seventh-largest crude oil producer, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported.

``There is nothing out there to bring prices back,'' said Daniel Hynes, a resources analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Melbourne. ``Fifty-four dollars may be a price the market will be looking for'' this week, he said.

Crude oil for November delivery traded at $53.23 a barrel in electronic after-hours trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 10:38 a.m. Singapore time, 8 cents lower than the record close on Oct. 8.

November crude rose 64 cents, or 1.2 percent, to close at $53.31 a barrel on the last day of trading last week. It reached $53.40, the highest price since futures began trading in 1983. Prices rose 6.4 percent last week, taking their gain from a year earlier to 79 percent.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, may expand production capacity by 30 percent within two years to prevent shortages, the country's oil minister said yesterday.

Boosting Capacity

``We're investing $2.5 billion a year to boost output capacity,'' Ali al-Naimi said in an interview yesterday in Abu Dhabi. The kingdom is ``willing to do what it takes to satisfy demand.'' The country can raise its limit by 3.2 million barrels to more than 14 million barrels a day, should it be needed, al- Naimi said. Of the new supply, 69 percent would be so-called light or extra light oil, which are most in demand, he said.

Prices were expected to rise this week according to a Bloomberg survey of traders and analysts.

Thirty-three of 45 survey respondents, or 73 percent, predicted an increase in futures this week, the biggest margin in favor of a gain in the six months the survey has run.

Futures have gained 15 of the 17 sessions since Hurricane Ivan crossed the Alabama coast after destroying seven production platforms and severely damaging 40 others in the Gulf, home to a quarter of the country's oil production.

Output

Daily oil output at platforms in the Gulf was down by 475,176 barrels, or 28 percent, from the 1.7 million barrels a day produced before the storm, according to a report from the Minerals Management Service last week. Ivan has reduced production by a total of 17 million barrels since Sept. 13.

Three tankers waiting at the Louisiana port were expected to begin unloading as soon as the weather allowed, CBS MarketWatch cited terminal spokeswoman Barb Hestermann as saying Oct. 9. ``It will probably be tomorrow,'' or Oct. 10, he said. ``But as soon as the weather calms we'll open it.''

The storm was downgraded to a depression by the U.S. National Hurricane Center and was 15 miles northeast of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the center said in an advisory on its website dated Oct. 10.

Prices also rose after rebels in the Niger Delta threatened to attack oil installations as part of a campaign against government forces. Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, was the fifth-largest source of U.S. oil imports this year.

Oil Workers

Production disruptions in the Gulf and the risk of disruption in Nigeria means oil may trade around $50 a barrel for the next couple of weeks, ANZ's Hynes said.

Two unions representing Nigerian oil workers said yesterday their members will join the walkout in protest at rising fuel prices. The strike will proceed as planned, Nigeria Labour Congress President Adams Oshiomhole said yesterday.

``It's going ahead, because the government has not talked to us,'' Oshiomhole said in a telephone interview.

The congress is an umbrella group that includes the union for blue-collar oil workers. The white-collar Petroleum and Natural Gas Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, while not a member of the NLC, says its members will join the walkout.

``They will stay at home,'' Pengassan's deputy general secretary, Lumumba Okugbawa, said yesterday in a telephone interview from Lagos. ``Nothing has changed until now.''

Pengassan members work in lifting and loading oil at export terminals. Members of the blue-collar union, the National Union of Petroleum and Natural Gas Workers of Nigeria are mostly involved in trucking and manual labor.

``We will be on strike,'' said Elijah Okougbo, deputy secretary general of Nupeng, yesterday in a telephone interview from Lagos. ``The directive has been given.''

New Supplies

Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, the producers of almost half OPEC's oil output, said yesterday they're committed to boosting capacity to meet soaring demand that has driven prices to a record. Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, said it may expand production capacity by 30 percent within two years to prevent shortages.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and other producers are continuing to increase capacity and no one has run short of oil, ANZ's Hynes said.

``It's certainly not the situation that it's being made out to be by some'' he said. ``It's really set up now for some profit- takers to come in.''

Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators have almost tripled their net-long position in New York crude-oil futures in the three weeks ended Oct. 5, according to U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission data.

Speculative long positions, or bets prices will rise, outnumbered short positions by 37,179 contracts, from a 10-month low of 13,198 Sept. 17. Net-long positions rose by 3,917 contracts, or 12 percent, from a week earlier, the Washington- based commission said in its Commitments of Traders report.

``There is absolutely no justification for prices to be at current levels,'' Saudi Arabia's oil minister Ali al-Naimi said yesterday. The kingdom is producing 9.5 million barrels a day, and it has no customers looking for more oil from its existing 1.5 million barrels a day of idle capacity, al-Naimi said in an interview at an energy conference in Abu Dhabi.

To contact the reporter on this story: Gavin Evans in Wellington, New Zealand at gavinevans@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 10, 2004 22:45 EDT