(SINGAPORE) - World oil prices eased only slightly in Asian trade on Tuesday after once again crashing through record highs and as producers warned sky-high values are here to stay.

Analysts said reports of pipeline sabotage in Nigeria had helped boost prices, which broke records almost every day over the past week.

In afternoon trade, New York's main oil futures contract, light sweet crude for delivery in May, fell 22 cents to 117.26 dollars per barrel.

The benchmark contract had struck a new peak in intraday trading of 117.76 dollars before closing at a record 117.48 dollars on Monday at the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Brent North Sea crude for June delivery fell two cents to 114.41 dollars a barrel, after finishing at an all-time high of 114.43 dollars a barrel on Monday in London. It earlier struck an intraday record of 114.86 dollars.

The Nigerian attacks were significant, said Victor Shum, senior principal at energy consultancy Purvin and Gertz in Singapore.

"These are real disruptions of high-quality crude for more than a month, which will support strong pricing in the near term," he said.

Anglo-Dutch oil firm Shell said on Monday that it may not be able to honour contracts for April and May after a leading Nigerian militant group attacked two key pipelines of Africa's top petroleum producer.

"We can confirm that force majeure will be declared on Bonny Terminal liftings for April and May 2008," a company official told AFP.

Company spokesman Tony Okonedo said he could "confirm two new attacks on the Soku-Buguma and Buguma-Alakiri pipelines," adding: "We are assessing the damage to these facilities."

Despite record-high prices, the president of the OPEC oil producers' cartel, Chakib Khelil, said over the weekend that there was no need for an immediate increase in production.

Oil prices are unlikely to fall back below 90 dollars, the energy minister of OPEC-member Venezuela, Rafael Ramirez, said on Monday at an international forum in Rome.

Iraqi oil minister Hussain Al-Shahristani argued that an increase in production by the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) would not bring the relief the market was calling for.

"There isn't much OPEC can do," the Iraqi minister said at the Rome forum.

An increase in output "is not going to solve the situation. The solution is in the hands of the speculators. They're the ones who are fixing the price and not the producers," Al-Shahristani said.

Analysts say turmoil in global financial markets has driven investors into oil and other commodities.

Oil prices have also been boosted recently by a weak US dollar.

The sliding value of the US currency makes dollar-priced goods cheaper for foreign buyers and tends to encourage oil demand, traders said.

"The weak dollar, together with supply disruptions in Nigeria, adds to the fire of bullish market sentiment," said Shum.

The single European currency hit a record 1.5984 US dollars last Thursday and on Tuesday traded at 1.5867 dollars.

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