Brent crude oil futures on London's International Petroleum Exchange were stronger during early electronic trading Monday, January front month Brent rose 62cts/bbl above Friday's settle, to trade at $45.51/bbl by 1121GMT, having earlier achieved $45.74/bbl.

Benchmark sweet crude futures maintained their bullish momentum during early trading Monday as concerns about the adequacy of heating oil stocks in light of cold weather forecasts once again dominated oil market sentiment. The market was also led higher by heavy buying and position-squaring ahead of the Thanksgiving holidays later this week.

Brent crude oil futures trading set a daily volume record Friday for the second consecutive day when 16,427 contracts were traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange in Dublin.

Updated: 11/22/04