US crude was up 7% to settle at $112.12 a barrel. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was also up 7% to $115.62 a barrel.
The rally will continue to cast doubt on how much gasoline prices will fall from their recent rise to record highs.
The gains come as Europe debates whether to join a US-led embargo on Russian oil. European Union leaders were expected to discuss this critical issue at meetings beginning on Monday.
The problem is that these Russian barrels cannot be easily replaced. Russia was the world’s second-largest oil producer last year, and neither US oil producers nor OPEC appear to be in any hurry to ramp up production.
Separately, Saudi Arabia’s state media reported on Sunday that Houthi rebels have attacked a facility run by the kingdom’s Aramco. The Saudi foreign ministry said the kingdom denied responsibility for a possible shortage of oil supplies in light of the attacks.
The oil market has been hit by significant turbulence in recent weeks.
After nearly 14 years at $130.50 a barrel in early March, US oil plummeted to as low as $93.53 a barrel on March 15. Since then, crude oil is up about 20%.
For now, pump prices, which lagged behind oil, continue to fall in response to the recent drop in oil prices.
The national median price for regular gasoline fell to $4.25 a gallon Monday, according to the AAA. That’s down 8 cents from a record high of $4.33 a gallon.