US crude futures surged, catching up with gains made yesterday in London after attacks by Nigerian militants holding nine foreign workers hostage shut in 20 pct of production in the world's eight largest oil exporter. At 11.35 am, March-dated US light crude futures, which did not trade yesterday on account of the US Presidents' Day holiday, were up 132 cents at 61.24 usd. April-dated Brent contracts were down 14 cents at 61.40 usd per barrel, having surged 1.65 usd yesterday to close at 61.54 usd. Sucden analyst Sam Tilley said US crude was "catching up from yesterday when US markets were closed", noting that Brent surged yesterday following the attacks on Nigeria's oil infrastructure. Nigeria's biggest foreign operator Royal Dutch Shell shut in 455,000 bpd of output on Saturday after militants set fire to its Forcados export terminal, took nine foreign oil workers hostage and sabotaged at least two pipelines. Yesterday, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) threatened to continue their sabotage campaign and taunted the Nigerian army with claims of further attacks.