* Oil hits new record high of $145.98 a barrel
* Potential supply disruption from Nigeria and Brazil
* Iran tests more missiles in the Gulf
(Updates prices, adds analyst comment, detail)
By Santosh Menon
LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) - Oil jumped over $4 to a new
record high near $146 a barrel on Friday, spurred by growing
worries of threats to supplies from Iran and Nigeria and a
strike of Brazilian oil workers next week.
U.S. crude <CLc1> was $4.17 at $145.82 a barrel by 1056 GMT,
off highs of $145.98, after jumping $5.60 or 4 percent a barrel
in late trading on Thursday.
London Brent crude was up $4.25 at $146.28 a barrel.
Leading the oil complex was ICE gas oil futures <LGOc1>
which climbed to a new record high of $1,335 a tonne amid
strong demand for diesel and aviation fuel.
Oil, which had been on the retreat for much of early part of
the week, reversed course on Thursday as fears of supply
disruptions from potential hot-spots, OPEC members Iran and
Nigeria, resurfaced.
A spate of missile tests by Iran, the world's fourth-largest
oil exporter, in the last two days against a backdrop of rising
tensions with Israel and the United States has left the oil
markets worried.
Iran has threatened to strike back at Tel Aviv as well as
U.S. interests in and a key oil shipping route if it is attacked
over its nuclear programme, which Israel and the West fears is
aimed at making nuclear weapons.
The United States reminded Tehran it was ready to defend its
allies.
The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, the
main militant group in Nigeria's oil-producing region, said it
was abandoning a ceasefire to protest against a British offer to
help tackle lawlessness in the region.
Rebel attacks on oil infrastructure in Nigeria, the world's
eighth biggest exporter, have also been partly responsible for
the nearly 50 percent rise in prices this year.
Workers at Brazil's Petrobras <PETR4.SA><PBR.N> threatened
to launch a five-day strike next week that would affect all 42
Campos basin offshore platforms, which account for more than 80
percent of daily oil output of around 1.8 million barrels.
Oil has also risen due to persistent weakness in the U.S.
dollar. Investors have flocked to oil and other commodities this
year as a hedge against rising inflation and the weak dollar.
Oil has continued rising despite efforts by top exporter
Saudi Arabia to raise production to its highest rate in three
decades in an effort to tame oil prices.
Qatar Oil Minister Abdullah al-Attiyah told Reuters on
Friday that he saw no demand for the additional crude that Saudi
Arabia has pledged to pump.
(Additional reporting by Felicia Loo in Singapore; Editing
by William Hardy)
