Oct. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil futures may trade near a record $53.40 a barrel reached Friday after a storm shut the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port for a third time in a month and as oil workers in Nigeria prepare to join a four-day general strike.

Tropical storm Matthew shut the terminal, in the Gulf of Mexico, which handles 10 percent of U.S. imports, on Oct. 8. Oil workers in Nigeria, source of a fifth of U.S. oil imports, will take part in a strike scheduled to begin today, unions said.

``There is nothing out there to bring prices back,'' said Daniel Hynes, a resources analyst at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Melbourne. ``$54 may be a price the market will be looking for'' this week, he said.

Crude oil for November delivery rose 64 cents, or 1.2 percent, to close at $53.31 a barrel on the last day of trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange last week. It reached $53.40, the highest price since futures began trading in 1983. After-hours electronic trading resumes 9 a.m. Sydney time.

Prices rose 6.4 percent last week, taking their gain from a year earlier to 79 percent. 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.

Niger

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.

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.

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.

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

Last Updated: October 10, 2004 18:52 EDT