Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil rose to a record $44.97 a barrel after Iraq cut shipments to tankers in the Persian Gulf because of warnings of possible attacks on petroleum-industry infrastructure.

Iraq's Southern Oil Co. stopped pumping oil after militia troops threatened to attack oil facilities, Agence France-Presse reported, citing an official at the state-run company. Russia's railway monopoly said it will continue shipments from OAO Yukos Oil Co., Russia's largest oil exporter. Concern over stability of Yukos shipments has bolstered prices.

``There is no limit to how high crude oil can go,'' said Carl Larry, an associate director of energy futures at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York. ``There is too much demand and terrorism. There are problems in Iraq, Russia and Venezuela that threaten supply.''

Crude oil for September delivery was up 88 cents, or 2 percent, at $44.83 a barrel at 1:34 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures reached $44.97, the highest price since futures began trading in New York in 1983. Prices were up 39 percent from a year earlier. Oil has passed intraday records every day since July 30.

In London, the September Brent crude oil futures contract was up 89 cents, or 2.2 percent, at $41.52 a barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange. Prices reached $41.65, the highest since the contract began trading in 1988.

Security measures have already increased at oil facilities in southern Iraq, which is the only outlet for oil exports following repeated attacks to the country's northern export pipeline.

Russian Shipments

Yukos sends as much as 160,000 barrels a day of crude oil to China, its largest customer, which gets oil by rail. Marina Kovshova, head of marketing at Moscow-based Russian Railways, said in a telephone interview that the Yukos contract was still in force, though she declined to provide any details.

``The contract is in order, but tomorrow they could say it is not,'' said Nauman Barakat, senior vice president at Refco Energy Markets in New York. ``I don't think it changes anything, unless we know how the payment was made, by whom and for how long.''

Deutsche Bank's oil strategist Adam Sieminski said in a note today that oil prices may temporarily rally ``toward $100'' if an accident, disaster or sabotage cuts supplies from two major oil- producing countries at the same time.

Venezuelan Recall

Petroleos de Venezuela SA, the state oil company, said it will increase security at its facilities prior to Sunday's recall vote on President Hugo Chavez to safeguard against possible disruptions and ``terrorist attacks.''

Petroleos de Venezuela Vice President Felix Rodriguez said in a press conference in the eastern city of Cumana that the company would take all measures to guarantee operations would be maintained. Rodriguez said military units would also reinforce security at all company facilities. Venezuela is the fourth- biggest source of U.S. oil imports this year, according to Energy Department figures.

Oil producers worldwide are at ``near full capacity,'' said U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. Demand ``looks strong well into the future, which is why we need an energy bill,'' he said.

Gasoline for September delivery was up 1.23 cents, or 1 percent, at $1.247 a gallon in New York. Prices reached $1.47 on May 20, the highest since the contract began trading in 1984. Futures were 31 percent higher than a year earlier.

Energy Bill

Abraham called on Congress to pass the stalled energy bill to lower prices for consumers.

``We're not happy seeing the price that people pay for gasoline or home heating oil be very high,'' Abraham said in an interview. ``We want to see that ameliorated,'' he said.

Hedge-fund managers and other large speculators have boosted their bets on higher prices for crude oil futures, according to data from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Speculative long positions, or futures and options bought, in Nymex crude oil outnumbered shorts by 40,299 contracts in the week ended Aug.3, up 10 percent from the previous week, the commission said Friday.

Speculators are still short of the net-long position of 65,287 they had at the start of June, or the 82,451 in early March, which was the most since 1999.

To contact the reporter on this story: Mark Shenk in New York at mshenk1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 9, 2004 13:54 EDT