Crude oil prices jumped more than 2 U.S. dollar a barrel on Monday after BP shut down its production in Alaska, blocking 8 percent of daily U.S. oil production.

Gasoline futures also rose, and experts are expecting prices at the pump to increase by about 10 cents a gallon.

BP Sunday night started shutting down production of its Prudhoe Bay field when a leak was found in a feeder pipeline. It admitted that this action would reduce oil output by an enormous 400,000 barrels a day.

BP officials said it will take weeks or months to restore lost production.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed 2.22 dollars, or 3 percent, to settle at 76.98 a barrel Monday, after peaking at 77.30 earlier in the day. It was the highest settlement price since July 14, when crude settled at a record 77.03 dollars a barrel.

In London, Brent crude for September on London's ICE futures exchange rose 2.13 dollars to 78.30 a barrel.

Nymex heating oil futures rose 5.39 cents to settle at 2.14 a gallon. Gasoline futures rose 2.01 cents to settle at 2.25 a gallon. Natural gas fell 33.9 cents to settle at 6.91 dollars per 1,000 cubic feet.

BP's production shutdown adds to the list of supply worries that are currently buoying oil prices: the potential for storms in the Gulf of Mexico, violence in the Middle East and unrest in Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil producer.

On Monday, the violence between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon neared its fifth week. While diplomatic efforts were intensifying at the United Nations, the fighting continued unabated.

Crude prices rose to a record 78.40 dollars a barrel on July 14 on worries that Iran, OPEC's No. 2 producer, could cut supplies if it gets involved in the fighting in Lebanon and Israel. Iran is also entrenched in a standoff with the United Nations over its nuclear program, and Iranian officials haven't ruled out using oil as a bargaining chip.

Meanwhile in Nigeria -- Africa's biggest oil exporter and the fifth-largest supplier of crude to the United States --militant attacks this year have shut down a quarter of the 2.6 million barrels of oil it normally produces each day.

Editor: Donald