World oil price set record high again!

World oil traded only a little below 122 dollars per barrel Wednesday after concerns over supply in key producer Nigeria helped push prices to record highs in frenzied trading.

New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for June delivery, was 21 cents lower at 121.63 dollars in afternoon Asian trade. The contract closed on the New York Mercantile Exchange Tuesday at a record high of 121.84 dollars after leaping to 122.73 dollars, an all-time intra-day high.

Brent North Sea crude for June fell 15 cents to 120.16 dollars per barrel. The contract had earlier reached a new peak of 120.99 dollars before settling at a record closing high of 120.31 on Tuesday in London.

Runaway oil prices have almost doubled in the past year and have surged by more than 20 dollars since the start of 2008.

The supply disruptions in Nigeria have been important but there have been indications they will be resolved. Nigerian militants attacked an oil ship off the coast of the west African country and took two people hostage over the weekend. The incident on Saturday came after an attack on Shell oil wells and a flow station in southern Bayelsa state, leading to a cut in the company's output. Nigeria is Africa's largest oil producer.

Traders had feared that a severe slowdown in the United States, the world's biggest economy and largest energy consumer, could affect oil demand.

Record-breaking oil prices have sparked widespread international concern among consumer nations amid predictions that they could rise perhaps as high as 200 dollars per barrel.