NEW YORK -- World oil prices jumped Monday as anti-government protesters held a strike in exporter Venezuela, and ahead of key UN decisions affecting supplies from Iraq where weapons inspections began last week.

U.S. crude futures in New York rose 35 cents to $27.24 per barrel, hitting its highest price for a month, while international benchmark Brent crude oil rose 46 cents to $25.62 a barrel, Reuters reported.

Oil operations in Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter, were initially unaffected by the strike to press for an early referendum on the presidency of Hugo Chavez, but dealers fear the action could cut into exports if it drags on for days.

Many opposition figures in the National Oil Company failed to show up for work, but oilfield operations and key refineries continued normally, a spokesman said.

In Iraq, Western warplanes bombed the south of the country in what the U.S. military said was a raid aimed at Iraqi air defenses, but Iraqi officials claimed hit oil facilities and killed four people.

Iraq protested about the attacks to the United Nations, which is set to vote on renewing an oil-for-food agreement today, under which Baghdad supplies almost two million barrels per day of oil to Western markets.

Four days later, Iraq must present a detailed report of its weapons programs to the UN Security Council, the first real test of its cooperation with weapons inspections.