World oil prices surged above 74 dollars Thursday amid concerns over Middle East and Nigeria.

New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in September, climbed 60 cents to 74.54 dollars per barrel in closing trades.

In London, Brent North Sea crude for September delivery surged 1.01 dollars to settle at 75.01 dollars per barrel.

Traders are still concerned over the violence between Israel and Hezbollah, which could spread to crude-producing nations in the Middle East.

Over 400 Lebanese and 50 Israelis have been killed in the 15- day-old violence which broke out on July 12 following the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerillas in cross-border attacks.

Meanwhile, about one-fourth of Nigeria's daily output is still shut after a series of militant attacks. Nigeria is Africa's leading oil producer and the fifth biggest source of U.S. oil imports.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) reported Wednesday that gasoline stocks dropped by 3.2 million barrels to 211 million in the week to July 21, compared with a forecasted no change,

Over the past four weeks, U.S. demand for gasoline rose by 1.8 percent from the same period in 2005, the DoE said. The figure had stood at 1.9 percent last week.

Consumption in U.S., which accounts for more than 40 percent of the world's gasoline, is seen by traders and analysts as a bellwether for oil demand and price direction.

Source: Xinhua