A Nippon Yusen K.K. crude oil tanker was fired upon by a small boat off the coast of Yemen. There were no injuries.

The oil carrier named Takayama was hit at 4:40 a.m. Yemeni time by a ``rocket-like weapon'', the Japanese Coast Guard said today in Tokyo. The vessel, which carries a crew of 23 and is able to steer on its own, left the South Korean port of Ulsan on April 4, Nippon Yusen said in a statement on its Web site.

The attack may spur crude oil prices to records, said Hidetoshi Shioda, a senior energy analyst at Mizuho Securities Co. Crude rose above $117 a barrel for the first time in New York after OPEC said it will maintain production, rejecting calls from the U.K. and Japan to boost output.