Oil prices remained just below record highs on Friday amid concern over possible conflict in Nigeria's oil-producing delta region, where a two-day truce between rebel militia and government forces is holding. U.S. light crude was 18 cents higher at $49.82 a barrel, within a dollar of the all-time peak of $50.47 hit earlier in the week. London Brent crude was 2 cents up, at $46.40 a barrel. Nigeria's government on Friday called off gunships and helicopters sent to attack the rebel militia, salvaging talks and averting a threatened rebel offensive. Earlier, the rebels accused Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo's government of violating a two-day ceasefire and threatened to blow up a critical natural gas plant if attacked. The rebel militia has told oil companies to shut down unless the government began talks on autonomy and revenue for the impoverished region, home to most of Nigeria's 2.3 million barrels per day output. So far only a small amount of oil output has been affected by the fighting, but companies fear a repeat of last year's uprising in the delta which temporarily shut 40 percent of Nigeria's output. --More 2212 Local Time 1912 GMT
