Oil prices rose more than a dollar to near $70 a barrel on Thursday after Nigeria's main militant group shut down one of Royal Dutch Shell's pipeline junction points, heightening concerns about supplies from the region.

U.S. crude futures for August gained $1.19 to $69.86 a barrel by 11:45 a.m. EDT. London Brent crude rose $1.40 to $69.73 a barrel.

In the latest in a string of attacks in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), said it had sabotaged the Billie-Krakama pipeline in Rivers State, which supplies one of the country's main export terminals.

Attacks from MEND have forced foreign oil companies, including U.S. oil major Chevron and Italy's Agip , to shut at least 133,000 barrels per day of oil production in the last month.

Shell said it had shut down one of its pipeline junction points on Thursday but declined to say whether any oil production had been affected.

Nigeria's MEND rebels have escalated their activities recently and are certainly a supportive influence (to oil prices), Mike Fitzpatrick, vice president at MF Global in New York, said in a research note.

Falling demand for oil sent oil prices crashing from record highs close to $150 a barrel last July toward $30 a barrel at the turn of the year. Since mid-April, however, prices have risen sharply on prospects for an economic recovery.

A Reuters poll of industry analysts showed oil prices are expected to average more than $70 a barrel in 2010, compared with the latest forecast average of $56.59 for this year.

RISING INVENTORIES

On Wednesday, U.S. government data showed stocks of gasoline in the world's largest energy consumer rose 3.9 million barrels last week, exceeding analysts' predictions. Stocks of distillates -- such as diesel and heating oil -- have risen to 10-year highs due to the recession.

But prices took support from a large drop in stockpiles of crude oil, which declined by 3.8 million barrels last week.

The U.S. economy shrank slightly less in early 2009 than previously thought, the government reported on Thursday, though there was widespread weakness in activity and demand was soft. Gross domestic product dropped 5.5 percent in the first quarter, from 6.3 percent in the last quarter of 2008.

Separately, the Labor Department said the number of workers filing new claims for jobless benefits unexpectedly rose last week by 15,000 to a seasonally adjusted 627,000 -- a measure of the strain still faced by hard-pressed consumers.

(Additional reporting by Richard Valdmanis in New York and Ramthan Hussain in Singapore; Editing by David Gregorio)

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