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he price of crude oil neared $50 a barrel in New York, and hit a new record in New York and in London on Monday amid concern rebel attacks in Nigeria would reduce production as U.S. refiners continue to struggle to replenish supplies disrupted by Hurricane Ivan, Bloomberg reported.

Crude oil for November delivery rose as high as $49.75 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange Monday, breaking the previous intraday record of $49.40 set on Aug. 20, Bloomberg said. It closed at $49.64, while while the November Brent crude-oil futures contract in London rose 60 cents to close at a record $45.93 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange.

Prices in New York have risen in eight sessions, the longest stretch since August 2002.

Royal Dutch/Shell Group's venture in Nigeria evacuated 235 workers from the Niger River delta Sept. 24 due to safety concerns, Bloomberg reported. In addition, U.S. oil supplies fell 10% in the eight weeks ended Sept. 17, leaving them close to a 29-year low.

Meanwhile, the Energy Department said deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would continue even though it reached a formal agreement with two refineries to lend to lend 1.7 million barrels of oil, news services reported.

DOE said 1.4 million barrels of crude would go to two Shell Oil refineries in Texas and Louisiana, and another 300,000 barrels to the Placid Refining Co. in Louisiana. In addition, Energy spokeswoman Jeanne Lopato said the department was reviewing other requests, the Associated Press reported.

Last week, DOE said it had agreed to loan the oil to refiners from the SPR, but still needed to work out the exact details of the transaction, the AP reported.

Industry analysts anticipate that probably no more than 4 million barrels will be made available, probably for a short period of time.

Placid Refining Co. told the Energy Department it needed the additional 300,000 barrels of crude to keep making jet fuel for the U.S. military.