Oil rose to its highest price in more than two years as Libya’s violent uprising threatened to disrupt exports from Africa’s third-biggest supplier and spread to other oil-producing nations in the Middle East, Bloomberg reported.

Futures in New York for April delivery advanced as much as 0.9 percent this morning after Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi vowed to fight a growing rebellion until his “last drop of blood.” London-traded Brent crude oil is near its highest price since September 2008. Members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will boost output if there is a supply shortage, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi said yesterday.

“I would estimate there’s a Middle East risk premium of between $10 and $15 in the price right now,” said David Wech, head of energy research at JBC Energy in Vienna, Austria. “The physical crude market is strong right now, and there would definitely be a contribution to that from Libya. Everybody’s waiting to see what will happen next.”

Crude for April delivery gained as much as 83 cents to $96.25 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest since Oct. 2, 2008. Futures are up 22 percent from a year ago. Yesterday, the March contract surged 8.6 percent to expire at $93.57 a barrel.