Oil climbs to $78 and eyes all-time high

Oil rose to $78 a barrel on Monday, 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 $78.40 in earlier trade, just 25 cents shy of the record peak reached last August. By 1 p.m., the benchmark was trading up 36 cents at $77.93.