KEY POINTS:
Oil rose to US$78 a barrel yesterday, driven towards an all-time high by an influx of speculative fund money and tightening crude supplies from the North Sea.
London Brent climbed to a fresh 11-month high of US$78.40 in earlier trade, just US25c shy of the record peak reached last August. US crude rose US17c to US$74.10 a barrel, close to 11-month highs but still well below its record high of US$78.40 set in July 2006.
Maintenance on North Sea oilfields, coupled with unanticipated outages, has helped extend oil's near three-week rally, lifting Brent by more than US$7 since late June.
- AGENCIES
