NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Oil prices moved higher Monday amid concerns over a protracted nationwide strike in Venezuela and the looming threat of military action in Iraq.

London's Brent crude futures opened up 44 cents at $30.60 a barrel, while February U.S. light crude futures jumped to $33.17 a barrel, marking a 45-cent gain from Friday's close and the highest since December 1, 2000.

U.S. crude futures for March delivery were also strong, gaining 43 cents to $32.23.

"Remember that oil disruption is a genuine bullish indicator for the commodity," said Peter Gignoux, oil analyst with Salomon Smith Barney in London. The Venezuelan strike is going on longer than we would have thought and President Chavez is playing his cards badly."

Venezuelan opposition leaders extended the ongoing strike into its 29th day Monday, aimed at forcing the resignation of President Hugo Chavez and early elections.

The strike has largely closed down oil production and refineries in the world's fifth-biggest exporter and choked off overseas sales to 20 percent of normal levels. Last week, the nation took the unusual step of importing oil from Brazil to alleviate some of the gas shortage.

A tough-talking Chavez said Sunday he had no plans to step down and vowed to break the strike, which has slashed crude production to about 200,000 barrels per day from more than three million bpd in November.

"We will move heaven and earth if necessary, but we will never leave the people in the hands of this savage and treacherous oligarchy," he said in his weekly live television program.

The Venezuela strike and speculation about war with Iraq has added more than $5 to a barrel of crude in December and prices are now $10 to $13 above levels at the beginning of the year, raising concerns that high energy bills may stymie global economic recovery.

Meanwhile, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which controls two-thirds of world crude exports, pledged to plug any supply shortfall due to the strike in Venezuela, OPEC's third biggest producer.

But so far officials have said there are no signs of any real shortage. Kuwait said over weekend that it expected OPEC to hold a meeting to consider raising production if prices remained high.

Under an informal output mechanism, OPEC aims to keep the price of its reference basket of seven crudes in a $22 to $28-a-barrel range by increasing supply if prices exceed the upper end of the band for 20 consecutive trading days.

The OPEC basket stood at $30.69 on Thursday, the eighth day the reference price was above the target band.

But Gignoux said OPEC's involvement may give relief to rising U.S. oil prices, although not immediately.

"For the U.S., Venezuela is a short-hold crude. That means that it takes about 5 to 6 days for the shipment to reach the United States. But oil shipment from Saudi Arabia, for example, would take about 45 days. I think the price hike in reaction to Venezuela is a short-term phenomenon. That situation will have to resolve itself soon. The bigger issue is Iraq."

In recent developments, Washington ordered more U.S. troops, aircraft and ships to head to the Gulf starting next month in preparation for a possible war against Baghdad as U.N. arms inspectors continued to search for evidence that Iraq has stockpiled biological, chemical or nuclear weapons.

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Washington had not yet decided whether to attack Iraq to force it to disarm weapons of mass destruction, but was taking "prudent action" to be ready to do whatever might be required.

U.S. defense officials also confirmed that Saudi Arabia had agreed to let the United States use its air bases and an important operations center at Prince Sultan air base outside Riyadh for defensive purposes in any possible war with Iraq.

The last time the U.S. was engaged militarily in Iraq, oil prices shot up to about $42 a barrel," Gignoux added.  

--from staff and wire reports