BP closes Prudhoe Bay Oil Fields, Alaska

OIL UP
By 0931 GMT, the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index <.FTEU3> was 1.1 percent lower at 1,330.5 points, while the Nikkei average <.N225> ended down 2.2 percent at 15,154 points.
The spike in oil prices also weighed on stock markets, as London Brent crude oil jumped more than 2 percent to a peak of $77.73 a barrel.

Oil producer BP Plc began shutting down its Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska, cutting production by 400,000 barrels per day (bpd), or 8 percent of U.S. domestic oil output.
BP shares led declines in Europe, falling 2 percent.

"The BP field is a sizable stream ... The world is already concerned about supplies and this is just adding to concerns," said Tony Nunan, a risk manager at Mitsubishi Corp. in Tokyo.